Art & Design

INTENT:

At Sutton Benger CE Primary School, we recognise the importance of Art and Design in our daily lives. We aim to instil a love of art and design and we want our children to be creative and equipped with the knowledge and skills to enable them to produce creative works using many forms of art and design. Children learn about artists and will evaluate and analyse works of art. Our art and design curriculum is deliberately knowledge and vocabulary-rich as we believe it is vital to acquire a cumulatively sufficient understanding of art and design concepts and creativity. We also recognise and value the need to develop practical art and design skills so that our children are fully immersed in units of learning that allow them to learn, grow and flourish within the art and design curriculum.

In conjunction with the aims of the National Curriculum, our design and technology curriculum offers opportunities for 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

IMPLEMENTATION:

Art and Design is blocked as units of learning within a 39-weeks curriculum map. The children take on the state of being of ‘Being an Artist’ and are fully immersed in a curriculum unit that is dedicated to art and design, with pre-existing knowledge from other curriculum areas used to support where possible. Knowledge Organisers are provided for every art and design unit and they include the foundational knowledge and skills needed in order to build upon prior learning in each art, craft or design project. Subject specific knowledge is also included which allows pupils to then apply when thinking critically within the unit. The implementation of art and design in this way supports children to become fully secure in each unit as well as supports them to build progressive understanding of the key concepts that are woven throughout the curriculum. To support high quality planning and assessment, teachers draw upon knowledge from the school’s art and design subject leader, as well as from experts within our multi-academy trust, DBAT.

To ensure a cumulatively sufficient curriculum, key concepts are woven throughout. Our curriculum is designed to ensure that all children access the key concepts within a range of units as they progress throughout the school e.g. developing proficiency in drawing, painting, sculpting and many other art forms; evaluating and analysing artists’ work to develop understanding of the historical and cultural development of each art form. Children are challenged to meet learning expectations for their key stage. Key concepts are referred to throughout the curriculum units so that children are given opportunities to draw, paint, sculpt and create through their learning of different arm forms and their historical and cultural development.

Our curriculum is vocabulary-rich, both in terms of common, technical and specialist vocabulary. All art and design vocabulary which is key to the unit is included as part of the Knowledge Organiser and is referred to throughout the unit. Children are given opportunities to develop and practice their vocabulary and oracy so that they become confident, articulate artists who are able to share their ideas, evaluate and analyse many different art forms and describe similarities and differences linked to their own and others’ work.

At Sutton Benger CE Primary School, children are taught a balance of art and design knowledge and practical skills. They work creatively and make links with other areas of learning in subjects such as Science, Maths, Design and Technology and Forest Schools.

IMPACT:

• Children at Sutton Benger CE Primary School have a love for art, craft and design. 
• Children engage purposefully in a range of art and design activities. They will use skills from art lessons across the curriculum and be able to draw, paint and sculpt proficiently and evaluate and analyse different art forms as they move to secondary school.
• Children will have creative, technical, and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently.
• Children will love art and design enough to pursue avenues of creativity outside of school.
• Pupils will have good memories of art and design and carry on with being creative designers for the rest of their lives.