Art is a place for children to learn to trust their ideas, themselves and to explore what is possible.” -Maryann F. Kohl
Just make a mark and see where it takes you.
Peter Reynolds (The Dot)
At Byers Green Primary School, we believe that the art and design curriculum should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art. We believe that creativity and the use of imagination lies at the heart of children’s learning and development. 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 as outlined in the National Curriculum.
Through our Art and Design curriculum we aim to provide opportunities for our pupils to:
- Understand the ways art connects us with our history, helps us embrace the present, and empowers us to shape our future.
- Understand that art is far more than a series of technical skills, to ensure our pupils learn through art, as well as about art.
- Develop creativity, their sense of individuality and draw on their cultural experiences.
- Learn a wide range of skills, developing understanding and showing clear progression, developing them into budding artists!
- Have the opportunity to explore key issues associated with pupil well-being, such as self-confidence and self-esteem and combine this with wider global concepts to make our pupils well rounded, creative and confident artists.
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.
At Byers Green Primary School, our Art and Design curriculum is carefully structured from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Upper Key Stage 2 to provide a progressive sequence of learning, knowledge, and skills. To ensure that our curriculum is engaging and builds on prior knowledge, we have planned our topics across a two-year cycle.
The curriculum has been designed to revisit many formal elements of art including line, shape, form, tone, texture, pattern, colour and composition and develop a range of skills within drawing, painting, printing, sculpting, collage, textiles and digital media. Through our topics, children are provided with many opportunities to develop their skills using a variety of media and materials. The work of famous local, national and international artists, architects and designers is explored. Where possible, artwork studied and observed has been selected from different cultures, backgrounds and periods to enhance the children’s learning and to allow them to develop their own artistic style, ideas, experiences and imagination.
At Byers Green Primary School we believe a sketchbook is an essential tool for any artist or designer, and it can be especially valuable in helping children explore their creativity and develop their skills. Sketch books are used across the school starting in KS1 to document the children’s artistic journey and enable them to express themselves visually, experiment with different techniques and styles, and build their confidence in their artistic abilities. Their sketchbook is a personal space to record observations, to explore different media and techniques, and to review, reflect and revisit ideas. It records the thinking process through experimentation, often leading to outcomes, becoming an art form in itself.
At Byers Green the ‘five steps of art’ is fundamental to this process and runs throughout our art and design curriculum. We have adapted this to focus on the following steps:
- Investigating
- Experimenting
- Exploring
- Creating
- Evaluating
Using the ‘five steps’ to develop and focus our use of sketchbooks across the school ensures consistency across year groups, while also building the children’s confidence when talking about their artistic journey including their prior and current learning.
Our Art and Design Curriculum has been developed to provide lessons and projects that demonstrate progression in skills and knowledge across all key stages. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods: reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes; pupil discussions about their learning, which includes discussion of their thoughts and ideas, the creative process and their sketchbook journey/completed artwork.
By the end of their time with us, we want pupils to have learned, enhanced and embedded a range of artistic skills. Art and Design promotes careful observation and an appreciation of the world around us – we aim to support the development of children’s opinions and respect for the world in which they live. They should have an awareness of a broad range of artists and craftspeople and be able to consider and discuss the artworks they have viewed. We want our pupils to be confident to explore, experiment and take risks, placing value on the process and journey that they take, not just on the finished product.
Most importantly, we want children to have found and enjoyed a creative outlet- by exploring why art is relevant to all our lives, we aim to make certain that pupils feel entitled to develop their creativity, and understand their place in the world as creative, confident beings.