LHPS Art  Curriculum

Guiding Principles

We want our children to Appreciate, Aspire and Achieve. We are committed to delivering an Art curriculum which engages, inspires and challenges children, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their works of art, craft and design. Children will produce creative work, come proficient in a range of art and craft techniques and will apply the language of art, craft and design when analysing and creating works of art. They will learn about great artists and designers throughout history and across cultures.

Core Beliefs

 Appreciate

Aspire

Achieve

An Art curriculum that develops every child’s ability to appreciate, care, respect and understand themselves, others and the world in which they live. A curriculum that also ensures that every child feels valued and cared for.

An Art curriculum that provides a range of opportunities, designed to empower every child to ‘dream big’ and develop a sense of what is possible for them to achieve now and in their future lives.

An Art curriculum that ensures all children have the skills, knowledge, attitude and social understanding to achieve in all aspects of their lives and equip them to become active and engaged citizens.

Curriculum Approach

Our mastery approach to art and design lessons is based upon our strong knowledge of pedagogy and our understanding of our children’s needs. This ensures that each lesson maximises both learning and our core beliefs of Appreciate, Aspire and Achieve.

Lessons are expertly designed to develop children’s mastery of art. This can be through small steps or through the development of an enquiry in a lesson.

Effective questioning is a crucial component of all of our art lessons. Key questions are planned to encourage children to think about their learning, to reflect upon previous learning and to make connections between new and existing knowledge. We also encourage them to build upon their peer’s understanding.

We encourage adults and children to use both rich language and precise vocabulary linked to art, craft and design so that they can better understand it and can then use this when reasoning, articulating and making generalisations.

In Art, our main aim is for children to develop a love and enjoyment of art and design through creative and explorative experiences. The progression of skills is carefully considered to allow children to improve their mastery of art and design techniques.

Art is largely taught in mixed ability groups as we believe all children can achieve. Using this approach, all children are exposed to some higher-level thinking questions as they evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design. Lessons are planned to include opportunities for children to benefit from collaborative as well as independent learning.

Teachers reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards for Art and apply a reflective approach to each lesson to evaluate learning and to plan next steps for all children.

Teachers provide meaningful and effective feedback at the source of learning to empower children in making progress and moving their learning forward.

Art begins in Foundation Stage through the development of fine motor skills and exploration of mark making, choosing colours for a particular purpose and understanding that they can begin to use shapes to represent objects. In addition children explore their own creativity and what happens when they mix colours, experiment to create different textures, and manipulate materials to achieve a planned effect. Children in the Foundation Stage begin to construct with a purpose in mind, using a variety of resources and simple tools and techniques competently and appropriately, adapting work where necessary.

At Key Stage 1, children are taught to use a range of materials creatively, to design and make using drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination. They develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space and explore 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.

At Key Stage 2, children are 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 create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials. Children also develop knowledge of great artists, architects and designers in history and across cultures.

Impact

Children’s knowledge, understanding and progress across all subject areas as well as their desire and ability to learn will be measured using a range of qualitative and quantitative strategies including: information from book scrutiny, performance data measured from starting point, lesson observations, drop ins, all stakeholder voice, collaborative research, use of external critical friends, and self / peer evaluation.

By the time a child leaves Lunt’s Heath Primary School in Year 6, they will have the essential knowledge and skills needed within art to be creative, inventive and curious. They will have an appreciation of their own artistic strengths and talents and will have confidently mastered the skills necessary to make connections in their artistic abilities and build new learning.