Intent
At St Luke’s Primary School, we wholeheartedly believe that every child has the capability, creativity and imagination required to become a brilliant artist. We aim to provide our pupils with the creative skills, techniques and knowledge to become the best artist they can be. It is not about being right and wrong; it is about giving our pupils the platform and the courage to express themselves without comparison or fear of failure. At the heart of our teaching, we want to engage, inspire and challenge. We encourage our pupils to experiment, evaluate, analyse and improve skills and techniques, enabling them to flourish. Our curriculum will provide our pupils with; the knowledge of how Art has shaped the world around us and the role artists have in society, culture, history, creativity and how they contribute to the wealth of our nation. Through our authentic teaching of skills, we not only want our pupils to create however, to notice and appreciate the beauty and Art in the world.
The aim of teaching Art at our school is:
- To develop pupils’ love of the world around them through the study of a range of artists whom have shaped our world and to find, reflect upon and appreciate the beauty in things.
- To develop the courage to have a go, to push themselves out of their comfort zone and understand that Art is not about being correct however, is an opportunity to express their identity, feelings and emotions using different creative outlets
- To give and instil hope by placing value on the meaning and beauty of the little things that make our world so incredible
Implementation
At St Luke’s, the Early Years Framework and the National Curriculum is the core of our Art curriculum.
Our curriculum is designed upon a base of skills and knowledge that we want the children to learn, broken down into the core components of drawing, painting, sculpture, pattern and printing. This is mapped out across the school in a progressive manner. Teachers plans lessons from medium term planning documents, taken from the long term progression document.
Every project will include:
- the study of a range of Artists from different cultural backgrounds and periods in art history;
- explicit teaching of key skills with time for children to explore, practise and develop their own ability in order to master skills;
- follow the necessary small steps of learning. Through guided practise and independent application to ensure all children are able to access and follow lessons through well thought out small, manageable progression points;
- exposure to a range of resources and materials to enrich the children’s art knowledge and skills;
- a final piece of art which enables children to make their own creative choices and apply the skills and knowledge taught .throughout as per the progression document.
Impact
In KS1 and KS2, the impact of art is assessed throughout the academic year and attainment will be reported to parents at the end of the academic year. In EYFS observational assessments are completed at the end of the reception year. As discrete subjects are not taught, art comes under the ‘Expressing arts and design’ area of learning with a focus on exploring and using media and materials and being imaginative. Children are assessed against the early year’s foundation state profile.
We aim for all children to achieve the national expectation in art at the end of KS2. In order to evaluate the level to which children are retaining knowledge and are able to apply their learning to a range of situations, we use a range of techniques including: regular feedback throughout units of art; end of art unit pieces of work; and a formal Art progression piece each year to identify and assess the children’s development of skills. This is through a portrait piece at the end of their drawing project. Every year group with have both a drawing and painting project to build upon and embed skills, with the other project being that of sculpture or print/pattern. In Year 6, the children will study every area of Art, enabling them to have the opportunity to apply all skills they have learned during their time at St Luke’s.
The impact of our Art curriculum is regularly monitored by the subject coordinator through lesson drop ins, sketch book monitoring, planning monitoring and pupil conferencing. The art coordinator regularly updates and reviews progressions and long term plans to ensure that the curriculum continues to provide the best opportunities for our children within our context.