Art & Design

Intent

We want our children to experience an Art and Design education that engages, inspires and challenges them to explore and develop their creativity.

Children are encouraged to critically observe, analyse, question, interpret, and empathise during structured project based activities. They will undertake exploratory work with a range of materials, develop their skills and gain an understanding of artists and art forms across a range of historical and cultural contexts.

Through exploring Art and Design, children will have the opportunity to develop their unique creative ideas and become visually literate learners in the increasingly image-dominated world around them.

Implementation

We use Cornerstones Curriculum to ensure that our children experience effectively sequenced lessons that develop their skills and knowledge of the visual elements, art forms, artists and art movements.

In each project, children are introduced to inspiring artists and art works. They have opportunities to experiment with materials and develop the techniques in drawing, painting, printing, sculpture and textiles that will support their independent ‘innovate’ tasks and improve their knowledge of the elements of art.

Within each project children are asked to respond to, make links and evaluate their own and others creative work. Children keep sketchbooks to record their ideas and review their work. 

The Cornerstones Art Curriculum builds in opportunities for core learning to be revisited and built upon each lesson, providing our children with an Art vocabulary and understanding that enables them to evaluate their own work and that of their peers.

Impact

The  impact of our art curriculum is monitored through the progress that children make. 

  • We use ‘Knowing more, remembering more’ questions at the start of every lesson, to recap the key knowledge and identify gaps in understanding. 
  • Each project works towards an independent ‘innovate’ task where teachers can observe how children have developed in their skills and knowledge. 
  • ‘Low stakes’ quizzes at the end of each unit help consolidate knowledge. 
  • Book looks are completed every 2nd term to check coverage and progression across the school.