Intent – what does the Art and Design curriculum intend to do?
At Ewyas Harold Primary School we believe that 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 and enables children to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes.
- To enable children to become visually literate and understand that art is a form of communication.
- To enable children to use a wide range of media to communicate ideas and feelings.
- To nurture and harness creativity and acquire and develop a range of skills and techniques.
- To develop children’s capacity for imaginative and original thought and to try out ideas without the fear of failing.
- To enable children through observation to learn about the world around them.
- To help children learn about the role of art, craft and design in their environment and take inspiration from it.
- To enable children to become independent in the planning and reviewing of their work
- To enable children to develop their full potential confidently and independently.
Implementation of the Art and Design Policy
At Ewyas Harold Primary School art is a hands-on activity that needs the teacher to be directly involved with the children in the lesson to set the task, to impart knowledge, to lead activities, to monitor and develop the children’s progress, to encourage development and to ensure that each child reaches an appropriate standard through:
- Using a variety of approaches that are matched to the activity and cater for the range of ability of the children.
- Having the opportunity to examine natural objects, everyday artefacts, historical artefacts. Developing clear links between art and design and I.C.T. opportunities.
- Experiencing and discussing art and artists from a wide range of cultures and periods in history.
- Encouraging children to work individually, in pairs, small groups and as whole class when required.
- Encouraging the development of personal and social skills, being fully inclusive and giving equal access for pupils to learning opportunities.
- Ensuring that issues of Health and Safety are addressed in the planning and delivery of the art curriculum.
We follow the Kapow scheme for Art to create a well sequenced and progressive curriculum map, containing the key concepts and skills children need to be fluent in, in order to work and think like professional artists.
- Through our Art scheme, the progression of skills and knowledge covers all aspects of the Art curriculum, and provides both support and challenge for learners.
- All classes will have a scheduled Art lesson fortnightly alongside other curriculum subjects.
- We follow a two yearly cycle to cater for mixed age classes – see below
We ensure that that pupils revisit five key strands linked to the National curriculum throughout their time in primary school:
- Generating ideas
- Using sketchbooks
- Making skills (including formal elements)
- Knowledge of artists
- Evaluating and analysing
These key concepts in art and design are delivered through progressive units which are all met across the two yearly planning cycle:
- Drawing
- Painting and mixed media
- Sculpture and 3D
- Craft and design
Lessons are practical in nature, and encourage experimental and exploratory learning with pupils documenting their ideas and work in sketch books.
Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils by providing a highly visual record of the key knowledge and techniques learnt, encouraging recall of skills processes, key facts and vocabulary knowledge. Recall of key vocabulary occurs in in lesson and is also displayed around the school.
Where possible we aim to further enhance and extend the pupils’ experience of art by running class visits, inviting local artists and members of the local community into school, as well as running competitions to encourage pupils to develop their skills outside of school.
Impact of Art and Design policy
We monitor the impact of our scheme through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Within each lesson teachers assess pupils against the learning objectives, and record this in a feedback and assessment journal. Assessment is carried out by looking at pupils’ work, observing how children perform in lessons, and talking to them about what they know. This knowledge informs the longer term assessment of the pupils’ attainment and progress in Art and Design.
Our aim is that pupils should leave Ewyas Harold equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and be creative and experimental members of society.
The impact of our Art scheme of work is that children will:
➔ Understand the functional and aesthetic properties of a range of materials and resources.
➔ Understand how to use and combine mixed media to carry out different techniques for drawing, painting, sculpting and crafting pieces of art.
➔ Recognise art as a means of self-expression and as a vehicle for mindfulness and wellbeing.
➔ Develop an appreciation for key artists, art movements, cultures, events in history and the impact of art in our society today.
➔ Analyse and evaluate creative works using subject-specific vocabulary.
➔ Recognise how creativity can be used to enhance work in other subject areas,
➔ Self-evaluate and reflect on learning at different stages and identify areas to improve.
➔ Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Art.
The Early Years Foundation Stage
At Ewyas Harold Primary School we encourage creative work in the nursery and reception class as this is part of the foundation stage. We relate the creative development of the children to the objectives set out in the early learning goals, which underpin the curriculum planning for children aged three to five. The children’s learning includes art, music, dance, role-play and imaginative play. The range of experience encourages children to make connections between one area of learning and another and so extends their understanding.
At Ewyas Harold Primary School we provide a rich environment in which we encourage and value creativity. Children experience a wide range of activities that they respond to, using the various senses. We give them the opportunity to work alongside artists and other adults. The activities that they take part in are imaginative and enjoyable.
At Ewyas Harold Primary School within the foundation stage we run continuous provision, where children have free access to all resources and opportunities, allowing them to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding at their own pace and interest. We relate the creative development of the children to the points set out in the foundation stage profile, as well as the age-related expectations in development matters which underpin the curriculum planning for children from birth to five. The children’s learning includes art, music, dance, role-play and imaginative play. The range of experiences encourages children to make connections between one area of learning and another and so extends their understanding
Key Stage One
At Ewyas Harold Primary School during key stage 1, art and design is about developing children’s creativity and imagination through providing art, craft and design activities that relate to children’s own identity and experiences, the natural and made objects and materials with which they are familiar and the locality in which they live.
Key Stage Two
At Ewyas Harold Primary School during key stage 2, art and design is about developing children’s creativity and imagination by building on their knowledge, skills and understanding of materials and processes through providing more complex activities. Children’s experiences help them to develop their understanding of the diverse roles and functions of art and design in the locality and in the wider world.
During each year six genres of art are taught, these are: drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles and sculpture to include clay work. These areas are taught under the umbrella title of each topic.
Differentiation/Responsive Teaching
At Ewyas Harold Primary School we recognise the fact that we have children of differing ability in all our classes, and so we provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. We achieve this through a range of strategies:
- Setting common tasks that are open-ended and can have a variety of responses;
- Setting tasks of increasing difficulty where not all children complete all tasks;
- Grouping children by ability and setting different tasks for each group;
- Providing a range of challenges with different resources;
- Using additional adults to support the work of individual children or small groups.
Health and Safety
At Ewyas Harold Primary School is responsible for teaching art, craft and design in a healthy and safe environment with reference to appropriate risk assessments for activities likely to incur possible risk. The teaching staff and art leader are responsible for the supervision of activities such as cutting with scissors or a paper-cutter and using glue guns safely. All art equipment is subject to maintenance and safety checks and any faulty equipment is to be reported to the art leader.
Resources
At Ewyas Harold Primary School there is a wide range of resources to support the teaching of art and design across the school.
Classrooms have a store of basic resources. Specialist resources and equipment are stored in the stock-cupboard and should be returned after use.
Teacher resources and reference materials such as books and artefacts are kept in the resource room. Good quality posters are stored in the planning chests and labelled accordingly.
Role of the Subject Leader
- To purchase and organise the appropriate art resources.
- To support colleagues in the teaching of art and design.
- To keep up to date on the use of art in the curriculum and regularly attend training for subject leaders held by the LA and feedback new information and ideas to staff.
- To monitor teaching and learning and the standards of children’s work.
- To regularly review and update the Art Policy and contribute to the school’s self-evaluation programme.
Assessment
At Ewyas Harold Primary School assessment is carried out in accordance with our assessment policy. On-going teacher assessment ensures that skills are developed and progress made in the area of art and design. At the end of each unit children from Y1-Y6 are assessed against the end points identified on the art curriculum map.
The class teacher also evaluates each child’s skills by their use of a sketchbook.All children are encouraged to develop the habit of using these, primarily for developing ideas for their work and for working out ideas, plans and designs; but also, for recording, exploring and storing visual information which can be readily retrieved and used as reference. The class teacher can look back and reflect on the content and judge which they can use to further develop ideas, skills and understanding. It is important to extend children’s skills and allow them to practise regularly.
At Ewyas Harold Primary School displaying children’s work well also plays a positive part in the appraisal of the art and design work in the school; this gives it value and reminds the children what has been achieved and enables them to share and talk about their work with others. As a form of real assessment, this gives the class teacher opportunities to focus on the different ways the children may have responded to the theme or starting point. Thus, the public display of art and design (and other curriculum areas) of each year group is much more than just a way of making the school look attractive; it also demonstrates the sequence and development of what has been learnt throughout the two key stages.
Equal Opportunities and Inclusion
At Ewyas Harold Primary School our curriculum for art and design will develop enjoyment of and commitment to stimulating the best possible progress and the highest attainment for all our pupils irrespective of social background, culture, race, gender, differences in ability and disabilities. All of our pupils have a secured entitlement to participate in the art and design curriculum and our teaching approaches ensure the avoidance of stereotyping when planning work or organising groups. All the teaching staff agree that when using reference materials, they should reflect social and cultural diversity and provide positive images of race, gender and disability.
Monitoring and Evaluation
At Ewyas Harold Primary School the art subject leader monitors planning and assessments – evaluating medium term plans and taking note of annotations, amendments and suggestions made by class teachers. They ensure that the curriculum has been covered and that there are no gaps.
Photographs of completed work and displays are kept digitally by the subject leader as a portfolio, in order to monitor and support the raising of standards in art within the school. The coordinators take responsibility for addressing any needs or concerns that arise as a result of this monitoring.
Disability Equality Impact Assessment
This policy has been written with reference to and in consideration of the school’s Disability Equality Scheme. Assessment will include consideration of issues identified by the involvement of disabled children, staff and parents and any information the school holds on disabled children, staff and parents.
