Art is not just a subject to learn, but an activity that you can practise with your hands, your eyes, your whole personality.

Quentin Blake

At All Saints School, our Art and Design curriculum engages, inspires and challenges pupils while equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. The National Curriculum states that there are three key areas of knowledge that must be taught in order for the art curriculum to be taught successfully. These areas are:

• Practical knowledge: Children should have knowledge of the different media, methods and techniques used to make the artwork.
• Theoretical knowledge: children should have knowledge of Art History, its context and significance.
• Disciplinary knowledge: Children should have knowledge needed to engage in practice and debate the subject.

At All Saints, we have worked hard to make sure these three areas are underpinned into our teaching of the Art curriculum. We follow a five key step approach in each art unit:

1. Appreciation / Exploration: this is the first part of the unit and a chance for the children to look at specific pieces of work by the chosen artist. This lesson gives the children the opportunity to discuss what they notice, feel and skills used by that specific artist or art movement.
2. Practice: Children practise specific skills such as colour mixing, exploration of specific skills in clay or tones and shading using different pencils.
3. Design: The children create their design thinking carefully about their learning intention. This stage gives teachers the opportunity to ask key questions of the children about their inspirations and skills they will be using in their design.
4. Create: Children create their piece of artwork thinking carefully about their design.
5. Evaluate: Children look back over the learning intention and evaluate their own and others' work about what they feel worked well and what could be improved on.

We are ambitious in the skills and techniques children will be taught and we talk to the children about the process of art: experimenting, evaluating and improving. Sketch books are key in showing this as they are used to collect, record ideas and practice the artistic skill being taught.

 

At All Saints you will see:

• Children learning about famous artists, movements and great works of art.
• Children using their sketch books to explore, experiment and develop artistic techniques.
• Children developing and refining artistic skills, using and revisiting different media as they move though the school.
• Children working individually or collaboratively to create a piece of artwork and are then able to evaluate their work.

 

What you will hear:

• Children discussing what they think and feel about a piece of artwork.
• Children using specific vocabulary
• Children being able to give feedback and to evaluate theirs, or others piece of artwork.

 

Our Art and Design curriculum is carefully designed to ensure that children learn and explore famous artists such as Andy Goldsworthy, Clarice Cliff, Vincent Van Gough and Andy Warhol which the children then use as inspiration for their own creations. Children’s prior knowledge is also revisited and built upon throughout their time in Primary school. As part of painting, for example, children in Year 1 are taught about primary colours and experiment with mixing these to create secondary colours. This knowledge is then revisited in Year 3 where the children will learn that artists use texture and shading to show light, dark and colour brightness in their artwork inspired by the artist Georgia O’Keeffe. In Year 5, children then progress on these skills to explore tints and shades through looking at the artist Vincent Van Gough to produce their own inspired piece of work.

 

Adaptations

At All Saints School the Art & Design curriculum is ambitious and is designed to give all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEN and/or disabilities, the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. We use strategies from the NASEN guidance to support our scaffolding within the teaching of Art & Design. This includes, but is not limited to the following list;

• Sharing information visually as well as through discussion.
• Allowing sufficient talk time to encourage thinking and idea sharing.
• Key vocabulary clearly displayed and used repetitively throughout lessons &/or if more appropriate, word banks to be accessible to learners.
• Introduce each piece of equipment – name it, explain what it does, model how it can be used or applied.
• Model processes on a step-by-step basis, allowing learners time to do practical tasks alongside the teacher. (Teachers’ thought processes are shared aloud.)
• Equipment used is fully accessible to all and adapted for individuals as necessary to ensure all can fully participate.
• Positioning of learners within the classroom to maximise their engagement.
• Some learners will benefit from working and interacting with selected others.
• A calm environment to help minimise distractions.
• Breaking the lesson into chunks if appropriate, allowing time for paired/group talk and allowing tasks to be completed across manageable stages.
• Giving time for learners to look back through their sketchbook to make connections to what they already know, which in turn can help nurture motivation.
• Have visual aids in the form of worked examples that the learners can have to hand when completing independent tasks.
• Allowing movement breaks if and when necessary.
• Using frames or adhesives (e.g., masking tape) to hold down learners’ work to surfaces in cases where learners may struggle to hold a resource in place.
• Provide learners with larger scale materials to work on and gradually decrease the scale as they acquire greater control.
• Encourage learners to experiment with different media, for example when drawing offer chunkier graphite sticks as well as soft ‘B’ range pencils. Similarly, offer a range of painting application media – some learners may prefer a sponge to a brush or may even use their fingers at times.
• Wider-handled or easy grip scissors can be a useful aid.
• Using malleable media such as clay or air dough to build fine motor skills for all children.

 

How can I support my child with Art and Design?

1. Be Creative

Try to give your children opportunities to use different types of drawing and painting resources at home to allow them to express themselves creatively and explore creating art using different materials. Paints, chalk, crayons, pens, pencils, modelling clay and much more can be found in discount shops.

2. Keep a Sketch Book

Encourage your child to keep a sketch book where they can record their art. This could include pieces of art which they have produced such as sketches and painting or could be used to scrapbook ideas which inspire them.

3. Celebrate your child's Art

Praise your child’s creations and encourage them not to get disheartened if they feel they have made ‘mistakes’. Explain that art is about being creative and trying out different things and that there is no right or wrong way to do things. You could even display their art around the house or create a gallery in their bedroom.

4. Discuss and Enjoy Art Together

We are extremely lucky to have local art galleries and museums that you could visit with your child. Encourage them to talk about what they see and to share their opinions about colours, tone, texture and the materials used.