Art and Design

Quotes that guide us:

‘Children are naturally creative. It is our job to give them freedom, materials and space to let their creativity blossom to its full potential.’ Jean Vant Hul

‘Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up’. Pablo Picasso

Why is it important to teach Art & Design? (Intent)

All children are artists regardless of any barrier or need. We teach Art & Design to harness children’s creativity and allow a freedom of expression through mindfulness and experimentation. Art teaches children that there is no right or wrong and gives children the confidence to make mistakes and explore their imagination through a variety of media. Art embodies some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art & 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. We will enable pupils to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and how art has shaped our history, and contributes to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

Key Concepts:

•        Everyone is an artist and that we can explore ideas, communicate and record experiences and emotions through art.
•        That Art & Design has many aspects including drawing, painting, collage, 3D, sculpture, textiles and craft using a wide range of media.
•        That Art & Design means different things to different people and that we too can express an opinion, evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design.

Curriculum Design (Implementation)

Our Art & Design curriculum provides a clear and comprehensive document that will show progression of skills across all key stages within the strands of art. We link art with theme work, this deepens the children understanding of a topic and gives art a purpose and context. The children learn about and are inspired by a number of artists. We make good use of visits and visitors and think carefully about the timing of this to ensure links to current learning. We use the local area in order to create real art and exhibit the children’s art around our schools, share it on our websites and Facebook pages.

Our Art & Design curriculum gives children the opportunity to:

•        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.

Knowledge & Skills Focused

To ensure clear sequences of learning we use the Discovery MAT wide progression document to plan lessons. This gives small steps that build towards key end points that link to the National Curriculum. These break down the National Curriculum statements into smaller steps. The key skills covered link to colour, painting, drawing, printing, texture, 3D work and pattern. Key vocabulary is also identified for each year group.

What we do well as a Trust (Impact)

At Discovery, our children have an extremely positive attitude towards art, one student stated, ‘We can express ourselves more. I think for some people I think if they feel anxious it could calm them down and make them feel more relaxed. Some people use it to express their emotions and themselves.’ Children are very proud of their work and love to see it displayed around our schools. We also have a wonderful local area to inspire a wealth of art lessons within this local context e.g., the beach, local woods.

As a Trust we have regularly worked on whole school art projects/days. These have been planned and designed carefully by the MAT Art & Design Coordinator, or school Art Coordinators, and have different activities aimed towards the different primary phases. The activities are on a 2-year rolling programme, so that once the children have reached the next phase, they access the consecutive activities.

We also draw on learning and experience through contacting local artists from the wider community. We most recently engaged with local landscape artist, Josh Bygrave, who came into schools to talk to the children about his artistic journey and inspiration, followed by a taught demonstration in which the children were able to complete their own piece of work.

During our ‘Celebrating Diversity’ house days (an opportunity for children across all year groups to come together in four houses) one of the many activities was art based and creating inspired artwork from different ethnicities.