‘Leaders take on or construct a curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give all learners, particularly the most disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or high needs, the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life’

EIF 2019 ‘

"I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for." 

Georgia O’Keeffe

Intent

Art  is loved by teachers and pupils across our school. At Outwoods Primary School we believe that high quality art lessons are a vital part of our children’s education.  Art and Design is valued as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum.

Our Art curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work and digital art and they are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas.

Our art curriculum develops children’s critical abilities, as well as an understanding of their own and others’ cultural heritages through the study of a diverse range of artists.  Children will be introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists, architects and designers. 

Children develop their understanding of the visual language of art with effective teaching and well-planned sequences of lessons and experiences. Understanding of the visual elements of art and design (line, tone, texture, colour, pattern, shape, 3D form) is developed by providing an exciting and wide ranging curriculum which will enable children to reach their full potential.

Pupils are clear about what the intended outcomes are and have a means to measure their own work against this.  To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in art and design, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school.  Art  is taught as part of a termly topic, making relevant links and focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum.

The progression document ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills/knowledge taught is progressive from year group to year group. The emphasis on knowledge and vocabulary ensures that children understand the context of the artwork, as well as the artists, architects and designers that they are learning about and being inspired by. 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.

Children’s knowledge and skills are built upon over a sequence of lessons which lead to a final piece. each unit of work begins with art theory of the artist and link to a focus piece of artwork.  Drawing skills and sketchbook work are always at the heart of the process. 

Teachers are able to monitor the impact of teaching the art curriculum through quality evaluation at the end of each unit.  Pupil voice interviews and regular sketchbook  reflection by the subject leader, enables us to evaluate standards achieved against the planned outcomes and  progression across the school.  This includes discussion of their thoughts, ideas, processing and their own evaluations of work. Through self evaluation, the children will  become more confident in analysing and evaluating their work and giving their opinion on their own and other works of art. 

Implementation

Teachers at Outwoods Primary school will:

• Have a secure knowledge of the art curriculum.
• They will plan well thought out sequences of lessons, which apply a variety of skills and knowledge which will be engaging and inspire children in their own creation and compositions.
• They will deliver teaching and develop  skills using high quality modelling,  using large sketch books similar to those of the children; which can be kept to evidence and revisit learning later on.
• They will organise class trips where appropriate, use the school grounds or local area as inspiration or use immersive experiences to engage children in their learning.

The subject leader will:

• Make regular links with parents, the community or wider, to showcase children's skills and talents by holding art events or exhibitions or taking part in local or national art events or projects.
• Invite artists into school or lead projects which extend children creative skills beyond what can be offered or explored in school and engage children in and encourage children to work collaboratively with others.

Impact

In order to measure the impact of our teaching in the Art curriculum, teachers will:

• Plan opportunities for reflection at the end of each unit of work, so that children can evaluate against the planned outcomes.
• Evidence of outcomes will be evident in children's sketch books and in high quality displays around school.
• All children will be able to use technical vocabulary.  Pupils are expected to be able to talk about and use the language of art; describing the knowledge and skills learned and applied in their own compositions.
• Give children opportunities to articulate their learning through pupil voice interviews.
• Make sure that by the end of each child's primary school journey, they each leave Outwoods having gained a wide range of skills knowledge of in art and  to be able to use the vocabulary of art to articulate that.
• Classroom and school displays, reflect the children’s sense of pride in their artwork and this is also demonstrated by entering work into local art exhibitions in an annual art festival in a nearby town. 
• The school environment celebrates children’s achievements in art and demonstrates the subject’s high status in the school.  The future opening of an art gallery within our school, will showcase our high regard for the children's work and will enable us to share the pupils success within the subject.