"Art and design 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

Intent

Art and design stimulates imagination and creativity and is an important form of self-expression for children. It affords children visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a unique way of responding to the world. At Loxley School, we aim for all children to learn to use colour, form, texture, shape, space, pattern and different materials and processes to communicate what they see, feel and think and to develop their innate creativity. Children will develop a growing, rich and subject-specific vocabulary in order to discuss and analyse both their own artwork and the work of others. Our children will also be given opportunities to explore ideas and meanings in the works of a wide range of significant artists, architects, designers and craftspeople. They will learn about the diverse roles and functions of art, architecture, craft and design in contemporary life, and in different times and cultures. In this way, our children will learn to appreciate the value of art, architecture, craft and design in enriching, and adding meaning to, our everyday lives.

Implementation

• Use of Kapow schemes of work: a spiral curriculum model where key skills are regularly revisited with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning.
• Lessons structured in a sequence of appraisal, skills practise and final piece
• Key vocabulary is taught and referred to throughout the unit sequence and then used to discuss and evaluate art.
• Use of knowledge organisers to support learning
• Children study artists and designers from a range of time periods, countries and cultures
• Children are supported in using a wide range of media
• Strong staff subject knowledge, which is supported via ongoing CPD from Kapow specialists.
• Cross-curricular opportunities to allow children to make connections and apply their knowledge of art in other areas of their learning.
• Opportunities for students to make their own creative choices and decisions, so that their art outcomes are unique to them, whilst still being knowledge-rich.
• Children create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
• Practical, experimental and exploratory learning.

Early Years

The learning in EYFS supports the NC by capitalising on children’s natural excitement for and freedom to express their thoughts, ideas and inner feelings as artists by:

• Providing children with opportunities to explore and experiment with different media and materials
• Encouraging children to be inventive and imaginative allowing them to express their creativity in ways that are personal to them
• Allowing children to use their own imagination to be uninhibited artists.
• We use planned themes to talk about line, shapes, colour, form and texture and study famous artists to provide children with opportunities to learn about different techniques and styles.

Impact

All children will demonstrate confidence in using a range of different media and materials to express themselves creatively. Children will see themselves as artists, taking pride in their work. Children will be able to articulate constructive criticism of their own artwork and the artworks of others, using the subject-specific vocabulary developed through their lessons. Children will have a rich knowledge and appreciation of a range of significant artists, architects, designers and craftspeople of the world. Children will also be proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques. Finally, they will meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Art and design and leave Loxley with the confidence and creativity to form a strong foundation for their Art and Design learning at Key Stage 3 and beyond.