At St Clement's and St John's Infant School we want all children to have an appreciation of art and the confidence to be curious and express themselves.
The Art 'Big Ideas'
The knowledge and skills children learn must be co-ordinated and coherent. In order to achieve this in our curriculum, we have identified the key concepts or overarching ideas within each subject. To enable the children to access them, we call these the ‘Big Ideas’.
In art these are:
Intent
At St Clement’s & St John’s Infant School, our vision is for every child to have confidence, compassion, creativity and curiosity in all areas of their learning, particularly in Art. We believe in every child becoming successful learners and leaders with a passion for being creative, and the ability to think innovatively in all areas of their life. Consequently, we strive to inspire a curiosity within our pupils to explore different media and art concepts, enabling them to express their own ideas, thoughts and experiences. We want our children to develop a love and appreciation of art in all its forms.
We aim to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for Art; providing a broad curriculum whilst ensuring the progressive development of artistic concepts, knowledge and skills. We believe that our teaching should equip pupils with the skills to use a range of materials creatively to design and make artwork; to use a variety of media and techniques to develop their ideas, experiences and imagination and make links between their own work and that of a range of artists (The 2014 National Curriculum in England).
We intend a strong focus on building fine motor strength within the Early Years. This provides our children with the dexterity and strength required to acquire the skills and techniques needed to produce creative and competent artwork.
The aim of teaching Art at our school is:
To develop pupils’ confidence to explore and experiment with their own ideas, experiences and imagination using the skills and techniques they have been taught.
To develop a compassion and appreciation for the artistic work of others and an awareness, curiosity and respect for different practices and disciplines.
To inspire pupils’ curiosity to discover more about different art forms, artists, craft-makers and designers and what they themselves are able to create. We believe that children should have opportunities to ask questions and make links, enabling and inspiring them to cultivate their own ideas.
To inspire all children to nurture and develop their creative ability and potential through exciting topics, independent and collaborative learning opportunities, fieldtrips and other stimulating experiences.
Implementation
At St Clement’s & St John’s Infant School, the Early Years Framework and the National Curriculum is at the core of our Art curriculum.
Our curriculum is designed upon a base of skills, techniques and knowledge that we want the children to learn, explore and demonstrate and is taught in a progressive manner throughout the whole school. Due to our high EAL pupil intake and large numbers of disadvantaged pupils, we believe it is essential to provide a range of experiences and skills development to ensure all pupils are inspired and can succeed.
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning, teachers plan lessons from the progression document and in KS1, deliver them through topics, which we select to excite and motivate our children. These topics are adapted, based on the progression document, from the Kapow scheme of work for Art.
Impact
We aim for all children to achieve age-related expectations in Art at the end of KS1 and for all children to be able to produce proficient creative work, drawing upon their skills and experience and demonstrating their understanding of different art forms and media.
The outcomes of the teaching of Art across the school can be seen within the children’s Sketch Books/Art Journals, on displays around the school and are evidenced within the Subject Leader’s file. The assessment of Art in KS1 is ongoing. The teachers regularly assess the children’ progress and understanding through pupil discussions, which focus on the key skills within the progression document.
The teachers will look at the child’s ability to: demonstrate specific skills and techniques, generate ideas based on the artwork of artists, evaluate their art and demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of what they have created and why. This information then informs the teachers with their next steps planning and additional support that may be required.