Art

Intent

At Becket Primary School we aim to provide an authentic, inspiring and engaging Art curriculum for all of our pupils.

We will equip them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design inspired by the work of other artists.

We will provide the children with time and the opportunity to explore and develop a range of skills and design techniques necessary to produce their own art work through a process of self-evaluation and improvement.

By the time our pupils leave the school, they will have an appreciation of the historical and cultural context of art within the wider world. In order to be successful beyond KS2, our children will have confidence in producing creative work, including drawing, painting, collage and sculpture.

Implementation

Art is taught using the Kapow Scheme of Work based on the 2014 National Curriculum and is split into the key strands of making skills, formal elements (line, shape, tone, texture, pattern and colour), knowledge of artists and evaluating. In our Art and Design skills and our formal elements of art units, pupils have the opportunity to learn and practice skills discretely. The knowledge and skills from these units are then applied throughout the other units in the scheme. Key skills are revisited again and again with increasing complexity in a spiral curriculum model. This allows pupils to revise and build upon previous learning.

Our curriculum overviews show which units cover each of the National curriculum attainment targets as well as each of the strands. Our progression of skills shows the skills that are taught within each year group and how these skills develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage.

Our curriculum develops pupil knowledge and understanding of key artists and art movements through Every Picture tells a story units and links to artists through practical work. Our units fully scaffold and support essential and age-appropriate sequenced learning. Creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded into our units, supporting pupils in learning how to make their own creative choices and decisions, so that their art outcomes, whilst still being knowledge rich, are unique to the pupil and personal.

Lessons are practical in nature and encourage experimental and exploratory learning with Key Stage two pupils using sketch books to document their ideas.

In the Foundation Stage, staff and pupils follow the Early Years Foundation Framework, and it is within the Foundation Stage that the essential building blocks of children’s artistic capability are established. There are many opportunities for carrying out art related play activities in all areas of learning, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function. It is very similar to the four step process but it takes the whole foundation stage to complete. Initially children investigate, explore and have a go. As time goes on children are expected to be more active learners and keep going when they encounter difficulty, until they are developing their own ideas and thinking critically. Art links very closely to Design Technology and Music. Its assessment and objectives are taken directly from the Early Years Curriculum, Expressive Arts and Design.

We have strong embedded working partnerships with local art agencies such as Artcore, Arts Award, Deda, local museums and the Mighty Creatives, who work with us at various points in the year. This gives children the chance to work with and study real artists, enabling children to see art being used authentically and for a purpose, allowing children to develop a range of positive experiences, both as an artist and an audience.

Impact

Our pupils will become involved in the evaluation, dialogue and decision making about the quality of their outcomes and the improvements they need to make. By taking part in regular discussions and decision-making processes, children will not only know facts and key information about Art, but they will be able to talk confidently about their own learning journey, have higher metacognitive skills and have a growing understanding of how to improve.

The impact can be consistently monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities tracked on Insight to allow for monitoring and evaluation. Each lesson has a knowledge catcher which is used at the start and end of each unit to help embed both new and previously learnt knowledge.

Pupils will leave Becket Primary School quipped with a range of techniques and the confidence and creativity to form a strong foundation for their Art and Design learning at Key Stage three and beyond.

Pupils will:

Produce creative work, exploring and recording their ideas and experiences.
Be proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.
Evaluate and analyse creative works using subject specific language.
Know about great artists and the historical and cultural development of their art.