"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time" - Thomas Merton 

“Art has the role in education of helping children to become like themselves instead of more like everyone else” - Sydney Gurewitz Clemens 

The National Curriculum states: "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."

At St Mary’s C of E Primary School, we believe that through art, craft and design we want to engage, inspire and challenge pupils by introducing them to a broad range of techniques, materials and artists, craftspeople and designers. We want to equip them with the knowledge and skills to be free to explore, experiment, take risks, invent, create and innovate. Enabling them to explore their own identity, whilst being curious about the world around. We most importantly believe that children should foster a positive, life-long relationship with creativity, so they can become their true selves and have fun whilst becoming so. 

We pride ourselves on the creation of an inspiring art and design curriculum. We place value on the child being as creative as possible and encourage their individuality. For them to achieve their fullest potential, each year group has a carefully planned progression of skills. In Reception, time is spent exploring the use of different materials, tools and techniques. The children develop their skills by drawing on different surfaces, and by using different mediums including chalk, paint, ink etc. In Reception, they develop their pencil grip, their use of colour, and explore different patterns. They also develop their creative design skills by utilising junk modelling, natural and manmade materials and different fabrics. 

In Years 1 and 2, time is spent building on their skills from Reception. They also begin developing their different drawing techniques, understanding the use of different types of pencils and the tone and shade they can create, as well as exploring the colour wheel and mixing different shades of primary and secondary colours. They broaden their experience of different malleable media including clay, mod roc and papier-mâché, as well delving into the creative process of sculpture. They also experience their first dabble of textile based art and experience different ways of weaving, and dying fabrics.

As the children progress up the school, they begin to demonstrate more control over the skills they have developed in previous years. They use different media to develop line, shape, pattern and texture. In Years 3 and 4, the children begin increasing their stamina for creative work as well as begin exploring different effects with paint including blocking in colour, colour washes and the use of thickened paints.  They continue to develop their knowledge of the colour wheel including complimentary and contrasting colours as well as the difference between hue, tint and shade. They experience different types of printing techniques, and begin experimenting with mosaic skills. 

By Years 5 and 6, the children have refined their skills, they can confidently mix colours, and select different colours for affect. They have developed their use of wet and dry media as well as developing the creative freedom to make artistic choices in their work. They have used a variety of recycled, manmade and natural materials to create interesting and intricate sculptures. They have also developed ways to incorporate digital art into their artwork to great effect.  

As well as developing their artistic flare and imagination here at St Mary’s, the children also spend time developing their critical eye. They develop their critiquing skills by being fully immersed in a variety of artists ranging from David Hockney, Banksy and Georgia O’Keefe to Roy Lichtenstein, L.S. Laury and Claude Monet and analysing their art. The children also explore different art movements like; Impressionism, Surrealism and Pointillism. It is this development of their reflective practice, which enables the children to grow and achieve their creative potential. 

 At St Mary’s C of E Primary School, it is our intention that through art, craft and design we want to engage, inspire and challenge pupils by introducing them to a broad range of techniques, materials and artists, craftspeople and designers. We want to equip them with the knowledge and skills to be free to explore, experiment, take risks, invent, create and innovate. Enabling them to explore their own identity, whilst being curious about the world around. We most importantly believe that children should foster a positive, life-long relationship with creativity, so they can become their true selves and have fun whilst becoming so; our well-balanced and enjoyable curriculum aims to do just that. 

How we meet these aims

The teaching and learning of Art and Design is based upon the EYFS Statutory Framework and the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and 2. To ensure that our teaching across the school is progressive, there is a comprehensive progression of skills document in place and is provided to all staff. To support the comprehensive teaching of Art and Design, the different artists and art movements have been mapped out across the whole school, taking into careful consideration the cultural capital at St Mary’s. It is this carefully planned combination that ensures that our children build upon their knowledge and understanding of how people and their creations have helped influence and shape history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of the world. 

We firmly believe that Art and Design is essential for children’s wellbeing and provides them with mindfulness, stress relief and regulation opportunities. It can also impact positively on their confidence and self-belief. A lot of children naturally choose to engage with creative activities and at St Mary’s we know it is our responsibility to nurture and cultivate this enjoyment through a rich, and varied art and design curriculum. 

Within our Art and Design curriculum, we strive to instil an appreciation and enjoyment of the arts to enrich our children’s learning experience. Our Art and Design curriculum has been carefully created to ensure our children experience high quality teaching and learning and is planned to demonstrate progression. We measure the impact of our curriculum in the following ways. 

• Pupil and teacher discussions about their work and learning 

• Continual assessment of the children’s work 

• Children in EYFS are formally assessed against Development Matters and at the end of EYFS against the ELG’s 

• Teaching staff in KS1 and KS2 assess children’s ability within specific aspects of Art and Design termly 

• Pupil progress is monitored closely and used to inform teaching and shared between year groups upon transition. 

• Children in EYFS have their artwork stored within their learning journeys and on Tapestry 

• KS1 and KS2 children use sketchbooks 

• Sketchbooks display a progression of practical application, theoretical understanding of Art and disciplinary knowledge of Art which are assessed regularly and used to determine next steps in a child’s creative journey. 

• Discussions with subject leader in order to gather pupil voice. 

• High quality displays in classrooms and around school. 

 

​We use a variety of teaching and learning styles in Art and Design lessons. These lessons will often have cross-curricular links with current themes and topics too. Children have opportunities to work independently and collaboratively with others on projects including different scales and in 2D/3D. Every session they develop a specific skill, an opportunity to explore art through a 'dabble' (an independent, child-led exploration of a skill or art style) and a 'dive' (an in-depth, teacher taught skill development or art style development) culminating in the children, creating a final concept piece to showcase their skills they have learnt or have they have progressed. In KS2, these lessons can be combined to allow for artists to be explored in greater depth, and when creating a large piece. Throughout the school year, the children also experience different opportunities to create including, a whole school arts week, Christmas card designs, various locality projects at Christmas and Easter as well as an opportunity to achieve a Discover Arts Award and an Explore Arts Award. 

The provision of Art and Design at St Mary’s is based on the teaching and learning of Art and Design is based upon the EYFS Statutory Framework and the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and 2. To ensure that our teaching across the school is progressive, there is a comprehensive progression of skills document in place and is provided to all staff. To support the comprehensive teaching of Art and Design, the different artists and art movements have been mapped out across the whole school, taking into careful consideration the cultural capital at St Mary’s. It is this carefully planned combination that ensures that our children build upon their knowledge and understanding of how people and their creations have helped influence and shape history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of the world. The children also have different opportunities to create including through designing Christmas cards, creating artwork for church, participating in locality projects as well as whole school art weeks, our Discover and Explore Arts Award as well as national events for example; the King’s Coronation.