Art

There are 6 pupil subject ambassadors who applied for this important role to help to improve and promote the Art and Design learning at St. Mary’s and this is what they had to say about their subject:

"I like painting and mixing colours. I made primary and secondary colours." Lottie, Year One

"I like drawing." Eloise, Year Two

`I love art because you can create anything with your imagination." Alice R, Year Three

"I like art because I can use my imagination and I can create different things." Michela, Year Five

"I like art because it helps me create something really nice and imaginative. I also like all the colours of art." Christopher, Year Six

"Art is as natural as sunshine and as vital as nourishment." - Mary Ann F Kohl

Intent

St Mary’s believes that art is a vital part of children’s education and has a significant and valuable role in the taught curriculum, as well as the enrichment opportunities we offer our pupils. The art curriculum will develop children’s critical abilities and understanding of their own and others’ cultural heritages through studying a diverse range of male and female artists.
Children will develop their understanding of the visual language of art with effective teaching and considered sequences of lessons and experiences. Understanding of the visual elements of art and design (line, tone, texture, colour, pattern, shape, 3D form) will be developed by providing a curriculum which will enable children to reach their full potential.

We aim to do this by providing the children with enriching memorable opportunities which will expose them to the broad arts culture. By the time our students leave us, they will be equipped with the skills, concepts, knowledge and confidence to invent and create their own works of art.

Implementation

The skills and knowledge that children will develop throughout each art topic are mapped across each year group and throughout the school to ensure progression. The emphasis on knowledge ensures that children understand the context of the artwork, as well as the artists that they are learning about and being inspired by. Children learn about different artists each half term as part of a whole school art day, cumulating in a whole school art exhibition at the end of the year in which parents are invited to. This enables links to other curriculum areas, including humanities, with children developing a considerable knowledge of individual artists as well as individual works and art movements. A similar focus on skills means that children are given opportunities to express their creative imagination, as well as practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting, printing, textiles and sculpture.

Our art curriculum follows the national curriculum and provides a clear and comprehensive scheme of work that shows progression of skills across all key stages within the strands of art. The children are given opportunities to develop not only their skills, knowledge and language but their experiences too. These experiences include trips to museums, galleries, involvement in local community events and regular opportunities with arts educators.

Impact

Classroom displays reflect the children’s sense of pride in their artwork and this is also demonstrated by creative outcomes across the wider curriculum. The school environment also celebrates children’s achievements in art and demonstrates the subject’s high status in the school, with outcomes, including sculptures, enhancing the outdoor as well as indoor environment. The art curriculum at St Mary’s contributes to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection.

In art, we use a range of strategies to assess what skills and knowledge the children have attained each term including the following: