At St Joseph’s, we value the importance of Art and Design. It is our children’s entitlement to be able to share and express their individual creativity, independence, resilience, and self-reflection. It is our intent to provide all children with the fundamental skills, techniques and knowledge needed to independently create their own unique
drawings, paintings, sculptures, and crafts. We want the children to have a natural sense of wonder and curiosity when studying a wide variety of artwork. We empower children to discover great artists that will enable them to explore their own and other’s cultural heritages.
We give the children the time and space to explore new themes, new sensations, and ways to be creative without the need to be perfect. At St Joseph’s, we believe that the process takes precedence over the product. We want our children to see the enjoyment and satisfaction in the process of producing art. It is through the children’s personalised experience of art at St Josephs, that we enable the children to feel safe, secure, and happy, to produce their most creative work.
Implementation:
The teaching and implementation of the Art and Design Curriculum at St Joseph’s Primary School begins in Early years, through developmental matters, and the National Curriculum in KS1 and KS2. All year groups are linked to topics to ensure a well-structured approach to this
creative subject. We teach a skills-based art curriculum, which shows a clear progression within school. Art is supported through the studying of key artists (which can be found in our Long-Term Planning) and the development of a knowledge of their work through research.
In EYFS the children have daily access to a variety of media and materials which they can explore to produce their own creative work. Provision is carefully planned to suit the interests of the children, whilst developing the necessary skills they are working on. Through
on-going observations of the children, the adults have an in-depth knowledge about each child’s development. This ensures that the adults facilitating learning know each child’s next steps and can give the children the learning opportunity and experience they need to
develop their skills in art. We place high importance on EYFS, as we know this provides the fundamental base for all learning. It is then in KS1, where the fundamental skills are developed and we look for any gaps in the children’s skills, so that we can close any gaps at
an earlier stage. By upper KS2, we aim for the children to use all the skills and knowledge that has been built upon year after year, to apply it to a variety of media and materials.
KS1 and KS2 both use sketchbooks to document their art learning journey, they are given time with their sketch books to practise new skills before applying them to create a new piece of artwork.
As well as this, art is promoted throughout our school through a variety of platforms. We hold after school art clubs, which are very popular, and art clubs where the children produce seasonal canvas pictures, such as Easter, Christmas etc.
Impact
By the end of each Key Stage, all children can apply and understand the skills, knowledge, and processes they have been taught so that they are proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft, and design techniques. Teachers use summative assessments to record the progress and attainment against the National Curriculum expectations. This information is used to inform future lessons; ensuring children are always supported and challenged appropriately. Most importantly, children will leave St Joseph’s knowing that it is okay to make mistakes along
their journey, they will think for themselves and be critical about their own and other’s work- knowing how they can improve it or knowing when to stop if they are satisfied with their creative work. This is all implemented through our evaluation process.
Art And Design Intent DocumentArt Coverage Overview
