Art

The Art and Design Curriculum at Fairstead Primary

Subject Lead: Chloe Hoare

Intent

At Fairstead Community Primary and Nursery School we want to develop a range of artistic skills in all children at all levels by ensuring we hold high expectations of what children can achieve. We will teach a skills-based curriculum, providing children with provocations that allow them to produce high-quality end pieces that they are incredibly proud of and want to share with others.

Art embodies some of the highest forms of human creativity. High quality art should engage, inspire and challenge children, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art. As children progress, they should think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of Art and Design. They should also know that Art and Design both reflect our current and past history and contribute to culture and creativity.

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.

Curriculum Implementation

The teaching and implementation of the Art and Design curriculum at Fairstead Community Primary and Nursery School is based on the National Curriculum and is broken down into learning objectives through threshold concepts and milestones for progress. These build on prior learning through The Essentials Curriculum to ensure a well-structured approach to develop ideas, master techniques and take inspiration from the greats.

The curriculum has been written for our context by the Art and Design subject leader; drawing on pathways and exploration from AccessArt and CQ Essentials milestones. Our sequencing plan from Year 1 – Year 6 highlights key questions, which supports teacher assessment through the end of pathway POP (Proof of Progress) tasks. All children have the opportunity to share and reflect on their creativity though discussions of intention and outcomes, annotations and recording of the child’s voice within sketchbooks. Our school’s Four Core Values; be responsible, be respectful, be safe and be a learner are meticulously woven within our curriculum and are visited within every pathway.

Assessment points by the end of year statements, through:

Disciplines
Key concepts
Themes
Medium
Artists
Share, reflect & discuss

Art skills are taught through 36 pathways drawing & sketch books, print, colour & collage, working in three dimensions, paint, surface & texture, working in three dimensions and collaboration & community.

Early Years Foundation Stage EYFS – Expressive Arts and Design

The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.

Statuary Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage September 2021

Expressive Arts and Design ELG:

Creating with Materials: Children at the expected level of development will:

Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
Share their creations, explaining the process they have used.
Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.

Aims

The aims of our EYFS art curriculum are:

To encourage children to explore creativity in a holistic way.
To encourage an open-ended exploration of materials, ideas and techniques.
To encourage children to value the journey over or alongside outcome
To encourage children to explore notions of “identity”, gain the confidence to share their exploration and their thoughts, and to learn to appreciate and respect that others might have different experiences of their own identity.
To encourage children to work together as a team, as well as value their ability to work alone.
To demonstrate that drawing, mark-making, making etc are physical as well as mental activities in which the mind and the body are involved.
To demonstrate that every individual has the power to create and make, to manipulate and contribute to the world, for the enjoyment of themselves and for others.

EYFS art curriculum is grouped around seven areas of exploration:

What Can We See?
How Can We Explore Colour?
How Can We Build Worlds?
How Can We Explore Materials & Marks?
How Can We Explore 3d Materials?
How Can We Use Our Bodies To Make Art?
How Can We Use Our Imaginations?

Within each area of exploration activities enable an open-ended, playful exploration of materials, processes and ideas, which in turn nurture dexterity skills, promote an early understanding of visual literacy skills, and begin to build children’s confidence in their ability to make personal, creative response to a stimuli.

The seven areas of exploration provide children with the opportunities and experiences to

Build dexterity skills
Explore materials and mark making in a playful way
Use bodies and imaginations to inspire making
Explore how they can reflect and share their views about what they have seen or made
Explore how art enriches our lives

Key stage 1

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

Pupils should be 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

Curriculum Impact

Within Art, we recognise it is a joyful and unique subject enabling creativity which is precious and should be cherished. Emphasis is placed on a spiral curriculum where skills and techniques are taught and revisited, through threshold and milestones.

Our Art curriculum is high quality, well planned out and demonstrates progression. We focus on progression to develop ideas, master techniques and take inspiration from the greats.

We use assessment to ensure children are working towards their creative potential by providing learning opportunities in materials, techniques, concepts, awareness of other artists and experiences. Assessment is a holistic practice which takes place during every Art lesson through an ongoing conversation with children, our progression plan provides teachers with assessment questions and by the end of year children should be able to achieve their milestones across all Art skills.

“Creativity is a fragile process that is hard to measure and assess and should always be nurtured and supported.”
AccessArt