Art Curriculum

“Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.”

2014 National Curriculum for Primary Education

Intent  

At St. Luke’s Primary School our Art curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their artistic skills using a range of different media and materials through purposeful cross-curricular topics. Children at St. Luke’s learn the essential skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work, sculpture and digital art in addition to reflecting on and evaluating these different creative strategies. Our art curriculum allows children to experience, interpret and incorporate techniques of famous artists in their own work. In Art, children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can challenge themselves to continue improving. Children are encouraged to work independently, take risks, experiment and reflect on which ideas and techniques are most successful for a particular project. We believe it is paramount that artwork be purposeful; whether this as a means of expression or to explore the styles of other artists that inspire our work. Pupils should be clear what the intended artistic outcomes are and have the requisite skills to measure their work against this. 

Implementation

Teachers plan art as part of our thematic, cross-curricular approach to learning. This includes a series of lessons for each topic, which carefully plans for progression of skills and depth of understanding throughout the year. Whole school progression in Art is mapped out in our Art Progression Document. Key skills that must be evident across the school are drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work, sculpture and digital art. 

As a school we aim to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum by ensuring that all pupils:

• Produce creative work, explore their own ideas and record their experience.
• Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.
• Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design.
• Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

Impact 

Our Art Curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. If children are achieving the planned outcomes they should be working at, or above age-related expectations. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Reflecting on standards achieved against the planned outcomes
• A celebration of learning in each lesson which demonstrates progression across the school
• Pupil discussion about their learning which includes their thoughts, ideas, processes and evaluations of work.

Our children enjoy the self-expression that they experience in Art. They are always keen to learn new skills and work hard to perfect those shown to them. Their artwork helps them to express feelings and emotions, as well as demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in other areas of the curriculum such as history, geography and science. Through art and design, we are able to reinforce our whole school community through the examples of children’s artwork that are proudly displayed around the school. 

Curriculum design

From Years 1 to 6 we employ the principles of the Quigley Education  "Art Companion" to ensure a whole school approach to art planning, an overview of which can be seen below:

Planned repetition of the Knowledge categories shown above helps to ensure that children are able to build on previous learning in order to achieve greater depth as they move through the school. (Click on the image below to zoom in)

We have also developed an Art Spine to ensure that pupils are introduced to the best that has been thought and said in, about and of World Art.