Art and Design

What is Art and Design?

At Appleton C of E Primary School, we believe 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.

Aims of Art and Design

We aim for all children to:

Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
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.

How is Art and Design taught?

Planning for art and design is a process in which all teachers follow either the ‘Expressive arts and design’ area in the Early Years Foundation Stage or ‘The National Curriculum programmes of study for Art and Design’ for Key Stages 1 and 2. This curriculum is planned to give a broad coverage and a clear progression from EYFS to the end of Key Stage 2. Art and design is carefully planned from Reception to Year 6 to learn and revisit skills so that by the end of their time at Appleton, pupils will know more and remember more about art and design.

Intent

At Appleton C of E Primary School, Art and Design is an important part of our curriculum and we strive to help all children to learn and develop artistic skills, as well as to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas. Our Art and Design curriculum is designed to engage, inspire and challenge pupils, whilst equipping them with the knowledge and skills to be able to experiment, invent and create their own works of art. It is intended that as pupils progress, they should gain a deeper understanding of how Art and Design reflects and shapes our history, and how it contributes to the culture and creativity of our world. We aim to deliver high-quality teaching that enables pupils to develop their knowledge of processes and techniques, to explore a wide range of artists and designers, both historical and modern and to create and evaluate artwork.  

Implementation

At Appleton, we achieve this by: 

Delivering high-quality, regular Art and Design lessons. The children will cover an Art and Design topic at least once every other term and they will also have additional opportunities to engage with Art and Design through other curriculum subjects.  
Linking Art and Design to the topic for the term, to ensure relevance and context, where possible. This includes introducing children to artists and art movements directly linked to the skills or topics they are covering. 
Teaching a predominantly skills-based curriculum, which covers drawing, painting, sculpture, textiles and printing.  
Re-teaching skills throughout the children’s time in school to build on the children’s previous learning. 
Ensuring that each child develops their skills and techniques in a way appropriate to them, through clear differentiation and support, active and purposeful experiences, and using a variety of art materials and teaching strategies. 
Fostering an enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts and a knowledge of artists, crafts people and designers 
Encouraging each child to evaluate their art and design work and that of others, both with peers and adults. 
Celebrating effort, progress and achievement in art through displays, exhibitions and enrichment activities.

Impact

At Appleton C of E Primary School, our Art and Design curriculum supports children in learning, improving and embedding a range of artistic skills. All children are able to develop an awareness of a broad range of artists and be able to consider and discuss the artworks they come across. Children learn to understand and apply the key principles of art: line, tone, texture, shape, form, space, pattern, colour, contrast, composition, proportion and perspective. The opportunity for children to refine and develop their techniques over time is supported by effective lesson sequencing and progression between year groups. Most importantly, we want children to enjoy expressing themselves creatively.  