Art

Art and Design at Findern Primary School.

‘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’.  – National Curriculum 2014

Intent

At Findern Primary School we recognise the significance and importance of creativity in expressing ideas. Our art and design curriculum is designed to fully engage, be easily accessible to all pupils and to maximise their development in skills, interest, appreciation and knowledge of the subject. They learn how art and design is intertwined in history and culture, as they explore art themes and artists from a wide range of genres and countries.

Children at Findern Primary School will enjoy units of learning, often linked to their class topics, which focus on developing their skills and knowledge in:

• Colour
• Drawing
• Textiles/collage
• Printing
• 3D form
• Pattern
• Digital media

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

Implementation

The teaching and implementation of the Art and Design Curriculum at Findern Primary School is based on the National Curriculum, ensuring a well-structured approach to this creative subject.

The children are taught art within their ongoing topic work, however the bulk of study takes place during our Summer Create Term, when the children have the opportunity to explore in more depth and experiment with the different styles and techniques of a particular artist (or artists) and create a final piece for display in our end of year art exhibition.

Areas covered include sculpture (including the work of Andy Goldsworthy, Anthony Gormley and Damien Hurst), mosaics, printing based on topic work, such as Viking runes, nature art, African art, Pop art (Andy Warhol), painting, pointillism (Georges Seurat), graffiti (Banksy) and the works of the Impressionist artists (Claude Monet and Van Gough).  More detail can be found in our whole school overview and progression of skills.

Early Years Foundation Stage

Pupils explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities.

They have opportunities to learn to:

• Explore the textures, movement, feel and look of different media and materials
• Respond to a range of media and materials, develop their understanding of them in order to manipulate and create different effects.
• Use different media and materials to express their own ideas
• Explore colour and use for a particular purpose
• Develop skills to use simple tools and techniques competently and appropriately
• Select appropriate media and techniques and adapt their work where necessary

Key stage 1

Pupils are taught:

• to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products
• to use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
• to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space
• about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work.    

Key stage 2

Pupils are taught to develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.

Pupils are taught:

• to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
• to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay]
• about great artists, architects and designers in history.

Impact

The impact of our art and design curriculum is measured through a variety of formative and summative assessment methods. We are committed to creating a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing investigative and enquiry-based exploration and plenty of opportunity for free expression.  Adult questioning is commonly used to assist our children in exploring ideas and techniques during the design process and to enable them to evaluate their own learning and development. We encourage our older children to annotate their work, demonstrating clear progression of knowledge, skills and vocabulary.

Formal methods for assessment include reflecting on the standards achieved against the age-related planned outcomes and lesson learning objectives. This will be used to inform future planning. Artwork is highly valued in wall displays, where a full range of skills and media can be seen. Individual sketch books move through school with each child so that clear development in skills progression is consistently recorded.

We use the bulk of the artwork produced during our summer Create Term as a celebration of creativity, when it is displayed formally in our whole school summer art exhibition. Family members are invited to view examples of work from across all year groups during the exhibition.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

(Pablo Picasso)