At The Federation of The Annunciation Catholic Schools, through our Art and Design Curriculum, we intend to give our pupils the opportunity to develop and extend skills; express their individual interests; create their own works of art and design and learn about famous artists.
It is our intention that pupils identify art and design as: a form of creativity and expression; an opportunity to celebrate difference and a reflection of someone’s opinion or emotion. Throughout their time at our school, pupils encounter various cross curricular links which deepen their understanding of these subjects and of art forms (for example artists through history, or sculpting scarabs when studying Ancient Egypt).
The curriculum focuses and builds on; drawing, painting and sculpture/3d with a careful and consistent progression of skills and knowledge that allows the pupil to make connections to build upon their learning together throughout their learning journey. The units of Art and Design are organised so that pupils are drawing on and building upon their knowledge and skills of drawing, painting and sculpture.
Continued use of sketchbooks allows children to record, develop and annotate ideas. This helps knowledge and understanding build between units and enables a child to have a bank of knowledge and reference points when working through the Art and Design curriculum. Sketchbooks allow children to track their own progress, refer to previous designs and techniques and continually adapt and evaluate their work. Sketchbooks move through the school with our children allowing them to make connections year on year by referring back to previous skills.
In the Early Years, art is embedded throughout the continuous provision. We ensure that the children in our Nursery and Reception classes have free access to a wide range of art and craft materials and have many opportunities to explore these and use them in different ways. They have chances to explore painting, collage, drawing, printing, and sculpting on a daily basis. The children are encouraged to explore these materials, ascribe meaning to their marks and talk about their creations. Pupils are always supported by adults who will encourage them to wonder, explore and comment by establishing high quality interactions.
At Key Stage One, each art topic follows three main steps:
1. Art Detectives: The children are asked the main Learning Question and are encouraged to investigate different objects or materials that might have to do with the artist. In this initial part of the term we want to ignite their curiosity and excite them about the possibilities. Then, they are introduced to the key artwork and artist of the term, and they learn about their context and biography.
2. Creative Exploration: During the middle lessons, pupils have the opportunity to access the materials and practise different skills. This is their opportunity to challenge what they can do with different materials. They work, explore, and learn about the main five skills, but also specific skills within them like smudging, tinting, or shading. The teachers make sure that they encourage all children to explore and discover what techniques are best to achieve a planned effect.
3. End Art Piece: Pupils use their new skills and knowledge to create their own art piece. With this, we try and make the children’s inner creativity shine through their piece. Then they can analyse and explain their artwork to their peers and teachers, explaining the skills they used, what they wanted to communicate and how they feel about the end result.
As children enter Key Stage 2, they develop the skills they learnt in Key Stage 1. Children will develop their painting, drawing, sketching and sculpting techniques linked with subjects specific to that year group. Children will study still life and learn to use their sketchbooks as a way of recording observations and recording and reviewing ideas. Sketchbooks allow children to track their own progress, refer to previous designs and techniques and continually adapt and evaluate their work. Pupils will learn about great artists throughout history and study and recreate some of their paintings.
Home learning: Pupils are continually encouraged to engage further with their learning and study while at home and outside of the school environment. Home learning is usually cross curricular and parents engage and support their children with homework where pupils create a piece of art or design which demonstrates their knowledge and understanding of techniques and approaches taught during the topic.