Art

Year 5 - Dreamscapes inspired by the artwork of Salvador Dali

Year 6 - Lowry style paintings of a concentration camp

Intention

 At The John Wesley CEM Primary School, we strive to create an Art curriculum that engages and inspires children to express their individual creativity and to produce their own works of art. Creativity is encouraged from the very beginning of our children’s school experience. Within EYFS, children are immersed in art in a child-initiated way, through Expressive Arts and Design. Across Years 1 to 6, children are provided with opportunities to experience a variety of media and techniques and are educated about influential artists and craft makers from around the world, both past and present. Within Key Stage 2, our Art Curriculum aims to equip children with the knowledge and skills to make informed choices, think critically of their own artwork and that of others, and to work with increased creative independence.

Implementation 

We fulfil the statutory requirements outlined in the Art and Design National Curriculum (2014). 

Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
• become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
• evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
• know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
• know and understand the elements of art are like tools used by artists to create their work

Our children are firstly taught to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products. They will use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination. We will support them to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, tone, line, form, shape and space. The children will learn about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work. 

As they become more experienced and proficient the children will be taught to develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design. They will be taught to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas. They will also learn to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay] and learn about great artists, architects and designers across a wide variety of cultures and in history. 

Impact 

By the time children leave The John Wesley CEM Primary School, we want them to have developed a passion for art and creativity, working both independently and collaboratively. Art skills are explicitly taught to the children so they can use these in their own individual creations. They will have experienced a wide range of works of art and used technical vocabulary to talk about these. They will have confidence to respond critically to their own and other’s work. They will have grown in confidence when using a range of tools, techniques and materials, becoming artists that can apply the skills and knowledge that they have developed throughout the years at primary school.

” All children are artists”- Pablo Picasso