Intent
The intention of the Art and Design curriculum in St. Thomas’ Catholic Primary School is for each child to make excellent progress in all areas of Art and Design by being inspired, engaged and challenged alongside having fun and new creative experiences. The children will learn from historical and current artists. They will be taught by example and with demonstrations; in small steps to enable success and with scaffolding for those who need it.
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Pablo Picasso
We want our curriculum to be inclusive to everyone and fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum. We aim to ensure the progressive development of both knowledge and skills.
The school values of being 'Aspirational', 'Christ Centred' and 'Togetherness' are at the heart of our school so will also affect our Art and Design curriculum:
We want to help our children discover more of who they are and what they can achieve both independently and as a collaborative group.
“Art has the role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else.” Sydney Gurewitz Clemens
St Thomas’ Catholic School’s Art and Design curriculum will give children the opportunity to:
“I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way—things I had no words for.” Georgia O’Keefe
As pupils progress through school, they should:
“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” Mary Lou Cook
Implementation:
The Art and Design curriculum at St Thomas’ Catholic Primary School is based upon the 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England, which provides a broad framework and outlines the knowledge and skills and taught in each Key Stage. We focus on these areas of knowledge and skills. The progression document ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills and knowledge taught is progressive from year group to year group. This ensures high standards of teaching and learning in Art and Design throughout the school.
Basic skills are introduced and then built upon, including drawing, printmaking, painting , collage and sculpture. Skills are revisited and the use of ongoing sketchbook work underpins this process. St.
Thomas’ believes in fostering an open-ended exploration of creativity. Our lessons do not follow prescriptive outcomes, instead we believe the role of the teacher is to introduce key skills, materials and ideas to the pupils in such a way that each pupil can then explore his or her own creativity. By creating a safe and nurturing environment, pupils are encouraged to take creative risks and to learn from the journey, rather than head towards a pre-defined end result. The process is as important as the end result and we take time to reflect on our learning.
When teaching art and design, there is some flexibility so that teachers can follow the children’s interests to ensure their learning is engaging, broad and balanced. A variety of teaching approaches are used based on the teacher’s judgement.
Art and design is taught as light touch for Terms 1 and 2, 5 and 6 and is the lead focus along with Music in Terms 3 and 4.
Impact
Sketchbooks are seen as important and are used from Year 1 to Year 6. These evidence each
individual’s learning and progression. The sketchbooks are an opportunity for children to express themselves and keep a visual diary of their thoughts, processes and ideas throughout the academic year. They are kept close at hand when creating, sketching or developing ideas both indoors and outside. The sketchbook is not marked in the same way as other work and so the teacher does not have to follow the school's marking policy in this book. The book belongs to the child and is a space for them to freely express, create and develop their ideas, sometimes with only limited guidance from the teacher. We want this book to be a key place for each child to express their creativity.
Assessment: We use summative assessment for children’s learning and progression. Next steps are planned accordingly. Sketchbooks and final pieces provide the evidence. Learning is discussed with the children and they sometimes have opportunities to review their peers work as well as their own.