‘Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity.’ (The National Curriculum)
Intent:
At Warren Park Primary School, we highly value the creative curriculum. As Picasso once said, “All children are artists” and, within every Art lesson, our vision is to bring out the artist from within every individual. Through careful selection, sequencing and cross-curricular links, our high-quality art education allows children to discover a passion for the subject and to have the opportunity to develop and broaden their knowledge, vocabulary and creativity through varied schemes of work. Through engaging and inspiring lessons, pupils are taught the key skills and techniques within:
- Drawing
- Painting
- Printmaking
- Collage
- Sculpture
- Textiles
- ICT linked Art.
Our children’s individual sketchbooks follow a progressive sequence of learning which enables them to study a range of key artists/designers, analyse their artwork, practise and develop a range of techniques and evaluate and think critically about their work and the work of others. With drawing and painting underpinning every scheme of work, along with clear, consistent, well-sequenced lessons, our curriculum enables children to revisit these skills to ensure consolidation and continuous progress in their learning journey.
Implementation:
Through fun, engaging and creative lessons, children focus on learning and developing their artistic techniques using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space. This equips them with the foundations, vocabulary, knowledge, and skills to experiment, invent and become the creators of their own works of art, craft and design. Ongoing professional development facilitates and supports quality first teaching with an emphasis on clear instructions and modelling. As children develop, targeted questioning and feedback ensures appropriate levels of challenge for all pupils whilst enabling those at Greater Depth to dive even deeper.
Children at Warren Park study, and are inspired by, a range of artists/designers, both past and present, and use this work to make links to their own. Through intelligent curriculum design, opportunities to rehearse, review and test skills are continually woven into the teaching sequence. At Warren Park, we have provided children with exciting and memorable life experiences such as a ‘Skype’ call to a current artist, alongside museum visits, which enrich the children’s passion for learning. In addition, we develop children’s critical thinking and resilient mentality whilst also discussing the contribution that art has on culture and the world around us.
Impact:
Children have fun and love learning Art at our school and enjoy learning and applying new skills which they then take on to their next step in their learning journey and life.
All art work at Warren Park is evidenced in children’s sketchbooks. In these books, which progress with them through the school, children record their sequence of learning allowing for assessment of progress and continual reference to end points and goals whilst also evidencing their skill practice and analytical thinking. Pupil progress is continually monitored to ensure pupil understanding and, when any misconceptions are highlighted, to ensure tricky skill elements are revisited and consolidated.
Showing off great work is key at Warren Park. We take great pride in displaying the children’s art work around the school as a whole school display and can be seen within individual year groups. After school, art galleries have invited parents in to view the children’s work and numerous pieces of our artwork have been published in the Hampshire Art News.