Art

Key features of our art curriculum

We used our six curriculum drivers to guide the development of our art curriculum:

• Discrete subject quality - Art is taught as a discrete subject and children take part in a weekly one-hour art lesson.  As part of our focus on subject quality, we use a sketchbook approach where learners are given plenty of opportunity to practice and experiment with different mediums and techniques before planning and producing a final piece to demonstrate what they have learned.
• Memorable learning – Our curriculum is focussed on a progression of disciplinary knowledge linked to the mediums of drawing, printing, painting and sculpture.  This knowledge returns and depends in sophistication in each academic year.  Returning to known mediums allows learners to build their skills and use them with increased artistic control in a variety of contexts.
• Self-regulated learning - Our emphasis is on giving learners the skills and inspiration to come up with their own imaginative and individual work.  Not all artistic work will be perfect and complete; we teach children that art is about experimentation and adaptation and is about finding your own style, not recreating perfect examples for display.  Learners have regular opportunities to evaluate their work and the work of others.
• Equality, diversity and social justice – The artists studied as part of our curriculum represent the wonderful diversity of British society.  We have selected artists in whom all children can find themselves represented and therefore aspire to be artists themselves.  Our art curriculum is part of our desire to teach positive stories of difference and diversity; everyone is entitled to produce and access art.
• Belief and investment in children – Our art teaching gives children true opportunities to explore techniques and ideas.  We believe they are capable of applying skills in their own, individual ways and therefore do not ask them to recreate tightly scaffolded outcomes.  We have invested in really high quality A3 sketchbooks to show children that their work is important and we have regular learning exhibitions where families come in and look at work.  Children work with high-quality equipment and resources.
• Celebration of our local area and people – We use our local area for inspiration and we invite local artists in to school to work with us and share their own art.

If you would like to read about the detail of our art curriculum, you can look at the document below.