Art and Design

Purpose of study

Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

Aims

The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
• become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
• evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
• know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

Intent

At New Horizons Seaside Primary, we aim to engage and inspire each child’s imagination through an exciting and progressive Art and Design curriculum and to give the children the opportunity to express themselves in a whole range of media. Our curriculum is planned to ensure that children understand that art is not what you see, it is what you want others to see.

Our Art and Design curriculum teaches our children a range of artistic skills and provides them with a wide range of opportunities, which allow them to build upon their skillset as they move through the school.

We aim to develop each child’s creativity and confidence by ensuring they have memorable and meaningful learning experiences.

Implementation

Within Art and Design units, our children learn the key skills of sketching, painting, printing, collage and sculpture, including work with clay and other malleable media. Our children are able to generate personal ideas and are given the opportunity to experiment with a range of media, such as pastels, charcoal and chalk.

Throughout the key stages, children will practise skills and record their ideas within a personal sketchbook, which will progress through the school with them. The skills and language learnt, can be applied to their cross-curricular learning and will support progression across other areas of the curriculum. Time is planned into each unit to ensure that our children learn to be reflective of their own and others’ art, craft and design work and have the tools to evaluate work sensitively and effectively.

Alongside their practical learning, our children develop a knowledge of famous artists from a range of cultures and backgrounds and deepen their awareness of art related vocabulary and concepts.

Impact

Our children develop the key skills and knowledge as set out in the Art and Design section of the National Curriculum. Children are proud of their work and this pride is reflected in their sketchbooks and the creative outcomes on classroom displays.

Our school Art Gallery also celebrates the children’s work in Art and Design and showcases a range of skills and styles from across the whole school, further enabling children to feel a huge sense of pride.

By the end of Year 6, our children are creative and independent artists. We aspire for our children to be confident in their artistic skills in order to create pieces of art that invite opinions and discussions from an audience. By the time they leave us, the children will understand that art is subjective and they are able to share their own opinions on artwork respectfully.