At St. Peter’s Primary, we believe our golden thread of PETERS Values should weave its way through our curriculum, including our subject of Art and Design.
Intent
Through our Art curriculum, we strive to 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. Through the teaching of Art, we endeavour to provide children with the opportunities to develop and extend skills and an opportunity to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas. Children are taught to be able to think creatively and critically. They investigate and evaluate a wide range of creative outcomes, from the past and present to develop vigorous understanding of the many disciplines within art craft and design and how they shape our history and future. Children begin to develop an awareness of the visual and tactile elements including; colour, pattern and texture, line and tone, shape, form and space, foster enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts and develop a knowledge of significant artists, craftspeople and designers, increase critical awareness of the roles and purposes of art and design in different times and cultures and analyse works using the language of art and design.
At St Peter’s, we are guided by the National Curriculum for Art (2014). The National Curriculum for Art aims to ensure that all pupils:
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produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
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become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, printing and textiles
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evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
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know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
We intend for our children to have real practical experiences and learn about Art in an active and creative way and therefore visitors, trips and cross-curricular links form a fundamental part of our curriculum.
Implementation
Our Art curriculum provides a clear and comprehensive scheme of work that will show progression of skills across all key stages within the strands of Art. The skills and knowledge that children will develop throughout each art topic are mapped across each year group and are progressive throughout the school. The emphasis on knowledge ensures that children understand the context of the artwork, as well as the artists and Art movements that they are learning about and being inspired by. This enables links to other curriculum areas with children developing knowledge of individual artists, as well as individual works and art movements. A similar systematic approach to the development of artistic skills means that children are given opportunities to express their creative imagination, as well as practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting, collage, printing, textiles and sculpture.
We implement our curriculum using planning that prioritises knowledge and understanding of a variety of male and female artists and art movements from difficult countries and cultures throughout history.
Impact
Our Art Curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to ensure progression. Our teachers measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
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A knowledge check at the beginning of each unit to see what the children already know
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Link each of our core strands to previous learning, to compare and contrast and to review understanding
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Start lessons with a recap of key knowledge and understanding from the previous session
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Provide opportunities each lesson to use the key vocabulary
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Assess children at the end of the unit against key knowledge and learning
The leadership team check that this impact is being secured through monitoring the subject on a regular and frequent basis. The method of monitoring supports the ongoing development of the curriculum. This includes:
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Staff subject knowledge, which is audited each year to ensure knowledge is secure, and additional support provided if necessary
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Staff meetings to discuss and evaluate the effectiveness of topics with the subject leaders. From this, medium term planning is amended and adapted to ensure the curriculum remains relevant for the children
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A ‘pupil voice’, which is conducted at different points throughout the year to allow pupils to contribute to their curriculum content
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Regular monitoring of work against the medium-term plans, so that inconsistencies can be addressed
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Tracking of content against the long-term plan of the school, to ensure the full breadth of the curriculum is met.
The impact of this is to ensure that children at St Peter’s are equipped with artistic skills and knowledge, which will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world.