INTENT

At FPS, we aim to provide a high quality Art, Craft and Design education that engages, inspires, communicates and challenges pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of Art, Craft and Design. As they progress, pupils will develop their ability to appreciate and interpret what they observe, communicate what they think and feel or make what they imagine and invent as they develop their critical thinking skills. They will ‘know more and remember more.’ We have designed a rich and varied curriculum that ensures pupils can see, know and experience a wide range of Art and artists, including those from different periods and cultures which they will explore, investigate and evaluate. This content and approach reinforces our global curriculum, enabling our pupils to become responsible world citizens with an understanding of how Art impacts and enhances societies and shows an awareness of world issues, past, present and future, and contributes to the culture and creativity of our surroundings.  In learning these skills pupils will show respect and empathy and understand the importance of truth and fairness. We recognise the vital role of Art, Craft and Design in allowing effective communication, self-awareness, curiosity, creativity and self-expression to develop alongside resilience, confidence and reflection skills. We intend our pupils to research, collaborate, evaluate and reflect on risks taken to actively make a better world for their future.

IMPLEMENTATION

We believe that it is important for all children, but especially those in the early years, to engage with the arts regularly and to explore a range of materials and media. These skills help pupils to work towards the Early Learning Goals, such as safely using and exploring a variety of materials, tools and techniques.  High-quality practice in the early years stimulates children’s interest and imagination in the materials and media they encounter and provides the necessary foundations for future learning.

The sequential progressive learning of knowledge, skills and vocabulary are taught within Art and Design. Within a block of lessons, time will be devoted to develop practical methods and techniques where pupils can experiment, learn techniques, design, create, re-appraise and communicate. They will learn about art movements and artists and how this has changed throughout history. Art lessons are planned to connect with other areas of the curriculum in context in particular with Oracy, History, Computing, Maths and Literacy and link to the needs of our pupils. We aim to provide the pupils of FPS with a distinctive approach where the mind and body interacts with a child’s culture, environment, thoughts and emotions as well as developing practical knowledge of how to create art, craft and design e.g. learning the methods and techniques that artists, craft-makers and designers use.

Concepts are connected to enable pupils to acquire new knowledge and progress in their understanding. These include visual elements e.g. colour, line, pattern, texture, along with techniques, media and materials as well as recording the emotional impact of a stimulus or the Art process itself. These elements will be used as a basis for assessment.

From Year One onwards, sketchbooks are used to record pupils’ observations and use them to re-visit ideas to improve their mastery of Art and Design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture using a range of materials. They will be able to talk with confidence about the differences and similarities of different practises and disciplines and make links to their own work.

All pupils, including those with SEND or disadvantaged pupils will be encouraged to work towards and reach specific end points within our ambitious curriculum. We appreciate that their ‘journey’ to get to the end goal might look different to some pupils and we will use adaptive teaching styles, approaches and equipment e.g. more guided instruction by breaking down tasks into smaller parts, repetition, worked examples that model and exemplify key techniques or aspects of techniques, more structured tasks by limiting the choice of materials, confining practice to the production of preliminary models or sketches rather than finished final outcomes.

IMPACT

Our curriculum is designed to be accessible to all whilst maximising the development of every child’s ability. We want our learners to reach and exceed their potential in Art and Design at FPS and beyond and have the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Our early education curriculum will prepare pupils for their learning in KS2 and by the end of Year Six, pupils will have covered all the areas of the Art, Craft and Design curriculum within different contexts and felt a sense of ownership about their sketchbook. They will make creative contributions, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences, become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other craft and design techniques, being able to evaluate and analyse creative work using the language of Art. They will know about great artists, craft-makers and designers and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms and use this knowledge to debate and have a dialogue about art. We aim for pupils to have a good knowledge of art’s past, present and future including the materials and processes used by making connections through time and having a knowledge of the history of art and its meaning and interpretations.  We want pupils to have an accurate impression of art work that a diverse range of artists, craft-makers and designers have produced e.g. traditional, classical and contemporary art, those artists from outside Europe and from diverse communities.

Our curriculum has been designed to help pupils acquire and remember new knowledge. Through a carefully sequenced curriculum pupils will ensure that pupils knowledge builds in growing complexity through deliberate practise to achieve our ambitious goals. All pupils, including those with SEND, are given the best chances to keep up.

From these strong foundations to build upon, there will be a seamless transition to the next stage of their journey. Reflecting on their sketchbook, pupils will be able to communicate their own talents and passions and discuss the meaningful learning experiences they have taken part in. The sketchbook will have been a place which questions about the world are explored and answered independently and with others, with responses used to show their understanding of different techniques, processes, ideas or outcomes including work made by artists, craftspeople, architects and designers. Pupils will be able to reflect on the progress they have made within a variety of Art skills and with their own personal growth to have the confidence to embrace their next steps. They will be respectful citizens who use their creativity and self-expression to show an awareness of world issues and begin to use their creativity to communicate their thoughts.

The below attachment includes our art progression statements across the school and our art long term plan.