Art

At St William’s Catholic Primary School, we believe that an education in Art and Design is important because it contributes to a broad and balanced curriculum which stimulates creativity and imagination. The purpose of Art and Design is to provide pupils with the opportunity to develop the relevant skills, concepts and knowledge necessary for them to express their own ideas and experiences in a visual or tactile form.  It enables children to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form and pattern whilst using different materials and processes. 

“Art is not just a subject to learn, but an activity that you can practise with

your hands, your eyes, your whole personality.”

Quentin Blake, Children’s Laureate

The class teachers at St William’s Catholic Primary are responsible for teaching and developing the Art and Design curriculum, ensuring that all pupils are taught the statutory requirements within the National Curriculum.

We aim to plan our Art and Design programme of study with a creative approach that is tailored to meet the needs of the children within our school, ensuring that regular cross curricular opportunities are provided to enhance the teaching of other subjects.  The Art and Design curriculum has been carefully planned to develop a clear progression of skills within each year group and to provide the children with both the substantive and disciplinary knowledge that they need to become an Artist.

The delivery of Art is taught as series of lessons which follows the Research, Explore, Develop, Create and Evaluate process.  This will allow the children to gain a deeper understanding of the skills and formal elements of Art as they research and explore the work of a range of artists and movements throughout history.  The children will then be given the opportunity to develop their own ideas of what they are working towards and their own style using the skills they have acquired before creating a final piece.  Evaluations should be ongoing throughout the unit as the children should be encouraged to evaluate their own individual work, the work of their peers and also the work of artists and craftsmen. 

We teach Art as a discrete subject every other half term.  Each year group will explore the formal elements of Art within the Autumn term, develop their creativity through a different Art form within the Spring term and conduct an in-depth study of an Artist, Craftsman or Sculptor within the Summer term.  Therefore, by the end of Year 6, all children should have a wealth of knowledge to support them on their journey to become cultural citizens.

The impact and measure of implementation is to ensure children not only acquire the appropriate age related knowledge linked to the curriculum, but also the skills which equip them to progress throughout school from the Early Years to Year 6.  In shaping our curriculum this way, progress can be measured and evidenced for all children, regardless of their starting points or specific need. 

We shall assess the impact of our curriculum by high quality teacher assessment, formal assessments for core subjects (including NFER), effective intervention and support, the use of nationally standardised tests in core subjects, professional reflection and consultation with pupils and parents and other means of external support. These methods will ensure teaching is matched to learning needs and pupils build learning blocks and competences as they grow. We will also mentor their attitudes to self and school and enhance their personal development.

Teachers will assess children’s work in art by making informal judgements during lessons. On completion of a piece of work, the teacher assesses the work against the skills being developed using the traffic light system, and uses this assessment to plan for future learning. Written (on post-it notes) or quality verbal feedback is given to the child to help guide his/her progress. Older children are encouraged to make judgements about how they can improve their own work and discuss this with both their peers and their Teachers.  The class teacher is required to assess the children against the National Curriculum at the end of each academic year and record individual pupil’s progress.

Improving children’s mental health through their creativity

https://www.place2be.org.uk/our-services/parents-and-carers/wellbeing-resources-for-families/activities-from-the-art-room/

Tips to develop your child’s Art savvy

https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/tips-to-develop-your-childs-art-savvy/