Our Art Curriculum
St Paul’s C.E. Primary School
Art and Design Curriculum Statement 2022-2023
INTENT
At St Paul’s we have designed our art curriculum to be inclusive and accessible for all children. We believe that the teaching of art is essential for all children across all age ranges. It is an important subject which helps us provide a broad and balanced curriculum. Art education has been proven to have remarkable impacts on academic, social, and emotional outcomes, helping us develop empathy as we learn more about societies, cultures and history.
We believe that a high-quality art education should engage, inspire and challenge all pupils whilst providing them with the courage to explore, experiment, invent and create their own works of art. Our art curriculum will provide the children with an understanding of how art and design reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation. Engagement with art helps us stretch our minds beyond the boundaries of the printed text or the rules of what is provable to encompass visual-spatial learning and develop motor skills. Through art, we learn to express ourselves confidently and creatively.
It is our aim, as educators, to provide children with the skills to understand, interpret, analyse and evaluate different types of art. As the children progress, we hope to instil in them the ability to think critically and develop their own understanding of art and design.
We aim to provide all children with the skills and knowledge to achieve at least the agreed age expectations in Art and design. We hope that they foster a love of art and use this to express themselves in a variety of contexts.
IMPLEMENTATION
At St Paul’s we follow the Dimensions Learning Means the World curriculum and Art is taught through thematic units, both through Skills Development Tasks and through projects which then apply those skills. The Satellite View maps out which thematic units feature this subject and clearly shows the objectives taught. Art is taught through a combination of subject knowledge and skills. Learning takes place both inside and outside the classroom.
We learn about the following artists:-
Jack Kirby
Julie Taymor
Romero Britto
Jackson Pollock
Pietro D’Angelo
Christy Brown
Ivan Aivazovsky
Cesar Manrique
Theresa Elvin
In art, we learn about the mediums of collage, textiles, photography, drawing, painting, 3D form and sculpture, as well as mixed media.
In the EYFS, we focus on the specific areas of exploring and using media and materials as well as expanding their imaginations.
In order to embed knowledge and skills into long term memory, each year group builds upon and uses prior skills to further push the children to reach their full potential. Learning, experimenting and trialling new techniques should be presented in the children’s Art/DT books which should be individual to every child and move through school with them.
IMPACT
Children enjoy art and are keen to experiment and try new techniques which will allow them to explore their creativity. This is evidenced through the children’s art books and the work that they produce. They are inspired by artists from all around the world and this is reflected in the art work around school. Children have an individual style which blossoms throughout their time at school and art lessons, in particular, allow them to show off their uniqueness. They are able to use transferable skills and are well prepared for the next stage of their learning journey.
All children will make good progress and achieve at least age expected standard in art.