"WE USE THE POWER OF ART TO CHALLENGE THE NORM, CHAMPION THE TRUTH, OPEN UP MINDS, AND QUESTION THE WORLD AROUND US."
KIM & LIONEL LOGCHIES
INTENT
To support our delivery of the Art curriculum, we follow the Kapow Primary Art curriculum.
At St. Finian’s, we see art and design as an exciting subject feeding our ‘head, heart and soul’. It has many benefits; teaching children to be observant, to be expressive and to build creative talents that are transferable across the wider curriculum and into the world beyond.
Our Art scheme of work is designed with the following five strands that run throughout:
- Generating ideas
- Using sketchbooks
- Making skills, including formal elements (line, shape, tone, texture, pattern, colour)
- Knowledge of artists
- Evaluating and analysing
Units of lessons are sequential, allowing children to build their skills and knowledge and to apply these to a range of outcomes. Following a spiral curriculum model, key skills are revisited repeatedly, with increasing complexity. This allows pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Units in each year group are organised into four core areas: - Drawing
- Painting and mixed-media
- Sculpture and 3D
- Craft and design
Creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded into every unit, supporting pupils in their ability 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.
IMPLEMENTATION
Through a structured curriculum, children are taught:
Substantive knowledge: Line, Shape, Form, Tone, Colour, Texture, Pattern
Procedural knowledge: Draw, Sculpt, Paint, Ceramics, Collage, Digital Media, Print Making, Textiles
Disciplinary knowledge: Traditional, Modern, Contemporary
Lessons are always practical in nature and encourage experimental and exploratory learning with pupils using sketchbooks to document their ideas. We use adaptive teaching to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available when required. Pupil videos created by subject specialists help pupils to see art techniques modelled by experts, to ensure the delivery of Art in your school is of the highest quality. Our Kapow scheme of work supports teachers to feel confident delivering the full Art and design curriculum and to deliver lessons of a high standard that ensure pupil progression.
Our Inspiration for Art
Our outdoor learning environment at St. Finian’s (including woodlands, meadows and expansive views), creates a wonderful stimulus for the art and design curriculum, encouraging us to explore and appreciate God’s wonderful world. It builds a sense of awe and wonder; a desire to protect and to share the beauty of God’s creation with others. We use the natural materials found around us in our woodland setting (leaves, sticks, earth) to experiment with 3D designs, exploring natural colours and textures. We also make regular visits to our neighbouring farm (Broadview). Here we use its beautiful valley landscape as a stimulus for art and for specific creative projects e.g. recreating giant art forms influenced by famous artists in history.
During the year, we invite artists from the community into school to share their skills and to teach specific art skills e.g. landscape painting using water colours; silk screen painting. Children visit art galleries and exhibitions as part of their curriculum, to build an appreciation of a wide range of works. They are taught to understand how art has shaped our history and how it is reflected in many aspects of our culture today.
Throughout the year, we showcase and celebrate children’s art work; including our annual art exhibition in the summer term. We submit entries to the annual Thatcham schools art competition, including pieces from KS1 and KS2 under different categories: portraits, black and white, sculpture and natural materials.
IMPACT
Our curriculum is designed in such a way that children are involved in evaluation, dialogue and decision making about the quality of their outcomes and the improvements they need to make. By taking part in our 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.
Pupil progress is monitored continually through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Pupils should leave St Finian’s equipped with a range of techniques and the confidence and creativity to form a strong foundation for their Art and design learning at Key Stage 3 and beyond.
The expected impact of following our Art and Design scheme of work is that children 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.
- Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Art and design.