Art and Design

Purpose of Study: 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.

The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

· 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.

KS1 Pupils should be taught:

• to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products
• to use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
• to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space
• about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and
• making links to their own work.

KS2 Pupils should be taught:

• to develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.
• to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
• to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay]
• about great artists, architects and designers in history.

Intent

At Sacred Heart, the intent of the Art and Design curriculum is to enable all children to be artists. They will learn to generate ideas, evaluate their own work and the work of other artists, as well as developing a strong understanding of the concepts of colour, texture, line, form, pattern and shape. Through experimentation, risk and innovation, pupils will develop the necessary skills to make choices about and create artwork using a range of media and for different purposes. Pupils will also learn about the holistic benefits of art, how it can be used as a means of communicating beyond their lifetime and as a tool that can unite communities.

Implementation

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in Art and Design, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Art and Design is taught as an explicit subject every alternate half term, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. Pupils are encouraged to apply their Art and Design skills in all areas of the curriculum, seeing the real-life application and value of art. We want pupils to use the art, craft and design techniques they learn as part of a creative journey; where experimenting, reflecting, adapting and refining are just as valued as a finished piece of artwork.

Teachers plan lessons for their class using our progression of knowledge and skills documents. The progression document ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills/knowledge taught is progressive from year group to year group.

Impact

The high-quality teaching of Art at Sacred Heart will enable learners to build a strong range of core skills as they progress through the school that will give them the opportunity to express their ideas clearly across different media. All children will feel empowered to create their own pieces of art and will have a wide artistic vocabulary that will help them voice their ideas and evaluate their own work and the work of others. Children will have learned about artists from different cultures and time periods, racial backgrounds and ideologies. They will learn to see the value of art in a variety of contexts and the scope of art to build towards different careers in the future.

We would like to share some of the learning opportunities we provide as part of our art & design curriculum at Sacred Heart......