Intent

“Art is not just a subject to learn, but an activity that you can practise with your hands, your eyes, your whole personality,”

Quentin Blake (Children’s Laureate)

Overview

Art and Design stimulates creativity and imagination. It provides visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a special way of understanding and responding to the world. It enables pupils to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. Our art lessons should be a hive of activity – children should experiment with their ideas, line, shape, colour, texture, form, pattern, composition and different materials and processes. Pupils become involved in shaping their environments through art and design activities. They learn to make informed judgements and aesthetic and practical decisions. (Self-evaluation of work should be encouraged and children must be taught how to be resilient to achieve their goals.) They explore ideas and meanings through the work of artists and designers. Through learning about the roles and functions of art, they can explore the impact it has had on contemporary life and that of different times and cultures. The appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts enriches all our lives.

Intent

At North Denes Primary School we believe that a high-quality art and design education should inspire, engage and challenge children – enabling them to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form and pattern. Children will become involved in shaping their environment through art and design activities, involving different creative techniques. They will explore ideas and meaning through the work of artists and designers. Additionally, as they learn about the history, roles and functions of art, they can explore the impact that it has on contemporary life and that of different times and cultures.

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

1. Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
2. Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
3. Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
4. Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

Implementation

The skills and knowledge that children will develop are mapped across each year group and are progressive through the school. Some coordinated whole-school project work also ensures that art is given high status in the curriculum. This includes the school’s participation in the annual ‘Christmas tree festival’ competition at Great Yarmouth Minster where the children make Christmas tree decorations and compete against other local schools. County competitions are also entered – one example being for the Queen’s jubilee when children were required to paint a bouquet of flowers fit for the queen and we were thrilled to find out that one of our pupils was awarded 1st place – out of over 400 entries.

At North Denes, we implement the curriculum by:

• Teaching a knowledge and skills-based curriculum, which covers drawing, painting, sculpture, textiles and printing.
• Re-teaching skills throughout the children’s time in school. Skills are revisited and honed in a spiral curriculum, which progresses in terms of depth and challenge, to build on the children’s previous learning.
• Ensuring that each child develops their skills and techniques in ways appropriate to them, through clear differentiation and support, active and purposeful experiences, and using a variety of art materials and teaching strategies.
• Fostering an enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts and a knowledge of artists, craftspeople and designers;
• Utilising a sketchbook approach, so that children feel safe to experiment and take risks, without the fear of doing something “wrong”.
• Encouraging each child to evaluate their art and design work and that of others, both with peers and adults.
• Celebrating effort, progress and achievement in art through displays, exhibitions and enrichment activities, such as trips out and competitions.

Our curriculum is shaped by our school vision which aims to enable all children, regardless of background, ability or additional needs to; cooperate, achieve, respect and most importantly, enjoy their learning and be the best they can be.

Impact

By the end of their time with us, we want pupils to have learned, improved and embedded a range of artistic skills. They should have an awareness of a broad range of artists and crafts people and be able to consider and discuss the artworks they come across. We want our pupils to be confident to explore, experiment and take risks, placing value on the process and journey that they take, nor just on the finished product. Most importantly, we want children to have found and enjoyed a creative outlet- a means of self-expression and enjoyment.

By the time children leave North Denes Primary School, they will have developed the ability to:

• Use visual language to show an understanding of the key principles: line, tone, texture, shape, form, space, pattern, colour, contrast, composition, proportion and perspective.
• Communicate in visual and tactile form.
• Draw from observation, memory and imagination confidently and adventurously.
• Explore and invent marks, develop and deconstruct ideas and communicate through purposeful drawing in 2D, 3D or digital media.
• Think and act like creative practitioners; using their knowledge and understanding to inform, inspire and interpret ideas, observations and feelings.
• Select and use materials, processes and techniques skilfully and inventively to realise intentions and capitalise on the unexpected.

Reflect on, analyse and critically evaluate their own work and that of others