Curriculum Implementation

The children are taught Art through a variety of avenues:

• As stand-alone lessons where a particular artist, genre, style or skill is explicitly unpicked and studied, allowing time for the children to fully understand it and create their own interpretative pieces or add their ideas to sketchbooks.
• Linked to other areas of the curriculum, especially useful in English in which art can enhance the learning and understanding of the text, emotions, characters and enable children to visualize new and exciting areas of learning.
• Alongside the links within English and other curriculum areas, Art should also be considered a subject in which further reading and investigation of artwork should be performed. Whether this be analytics of particular paintings, reading about and producing biographies of artists or simply being able to answer questions in a quiz. In an art lesson, it is not always necessary to produce any artwork!
• The use of artistic vocabulary and understanding of techniques and linked styles, as well as regular questioning, both by adults and each other should be encouraged and celebrated. A vocabulary wall linked to art would enable children to revisit prior learning and build on their understanding.
• As well as ‘the greats’ and a diversity of artists including BAME, local artists should be studied and celebrated, both historical as well as modern and, where possible, artist experiences should be introduced to the children. This could be in the form of a gallery trip (such as 20-21) or a visit by an artists, craftsperson, illustrator etc.
• All areas of art aim to be experimented with and developed throughout the course of the year
• The children's learning is further enhanced with whole school ‘Big Art’ days when the children have the opportunity for collaborative working and exploring the different styles and techniques of a range of artists.

Assessment

Age-related expectations are shared with staff and children and this, along with children’s feedback and sketchbook scrutiny will allow the assessment of the subject. Ongoing observational assessments take place throughout the year. Teachers and subject leaders will use this information to inform future lessons; ensuring children are stimulated, enthused, supported and challenged appropriately.

Progression of Knowledge:

Across the school we will focus on one particular discipline of art each half term. This is alongside their long-term plan for art. The aim is to upskill both staff and children in that particular medium, offering an opportunity for targeted CPD and allowing a clear progression of skills to be established throughout the school. Each half term, a moderation of that skill/medium/genre will take place and by the end of the year, there will be a much greater whole-school understanding of that particular subject.

Each year group will begin with colour mixing and a progression of skills throughout the school. This is clearly differentiated across the school; from basic mixing of primary to create secondary colours, up to the ability to colour match to famous artwork or real-life objects such as flowers and leaves and to create mood-specific tones and hues.

Other school focuses will include:

• Still life: involving how to hold a pencil, sketching techniques, use of perspective, shading – light and dark, negative space and close observation skills.
• 3D: use of clay, reclaimed materials, looking at joining materials, wire and cardboard sculptures, to name but a few, as well as studying sculptures and sculptors. This would be a wonderful opportunity to visit sculptures, such as Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
• Printing and mark-making: This will range from single item printing and potato cut printing, up to the use of lino-cutting techniques.
• Textiles: This is an area that, as a school, we aim to focus on next year and become much stronger in knowledge, ability to identify techniques and focus on textile artists, as well as experimenting and generating artwork in this medium. It is vast and could encompass cross-stitch, knitting, weaving, applique of different textures, painting on fabric, learning stitches and joining techniques.
• Use of pastels: both soft and oil and will include large-scale artwork (pavement chalks will be used to create whole-class pieces on the playground and walls of the school).

The learning will include, but not be constricted by the above focusses.

The use of sketchbooks is a strong focus of the school as we believe that it is fundamental in the development of learning new techniques, learning about artists and art movements and use to generate and develop ideas by students.