Thornton Hough Primary School

                                                                         “Learning for life”

Art and Design Curriculum

Intent

At Thornton Hough Primary School, we value Art and Design as an important part of children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Our curriculum provides our children with the opportunities to develop and extend skills and an opportunity to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas.

Art and Design embodies some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality Art and Design curriculum should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of Art and Design. They should also know how Art and Design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

It is our intention to embed our school values within this subject to build upon each child’s passion, curiosity, respect and appreciation for a range of art, design and crafts from different artists and cultures, as well as acquiring new skills along the way, which in turn, will impact on their own artwork as they transition through our school and beyond.  

Implementation

At Thornton Hough Primary School, we use our own scheme of work that is in line with the National Curriculum with full content coverage throughout KS1 and KS2. All pupils in the EYFS are taught Art as an integral part of the play-based learning covered during the academic year.

Each year group has opportunities to explore and investigate elements of drawing, painting and 3D mixed media. Within KS1 and KS2, children have an opportunity to learn about and create digital artwork. Through the units of work, children will learn about artists, their techniques and the impact/influence they have had. These opportunities are mapped out across the curriculum for pupils to learn about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

Various media types are explored within each unit to give the widest possible range of experiences for all children.  The materials and media used are revisited throughout units and year groups to ensure the progression of skills previously developed. Children have access to key knowledge, language and meanings, through the use of knowledge organisers, in order to understand and readily apply new terminology to their work in Art and across the wider curriculum. From Year 1 to Year 6 each child has their own sketchbook to keep their ideas in which travels with them through the school.

More details can be found in our long-term Art and Design curriculum map.

Impact:

Through following a clear and comprehensive scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum, it is expected that teaching and learning will show progression across all key stages within the strands of Art and Design. Subsequently, children will achieve age related expectations in Art at the end of their cohort year and Key Stage. It is our aim that children will retain knowledge and skills taught within each unit of work, remember these and understand how to use and apply these in their own art work, whilst beginning to understand what being an ‘artist’ means.

At Thornton Hough Primary School, we are able to measure the impact that Art and Design has had for all children by:

• Determining the extent to which objectives are met within each lesson and overall, at the end of each unit
• Summative assessments of pupil discussions about their learning.
• Images and videos to show children’s practical learning.
• ‘Pupil Voice’ to find out children’s learning experience.
• ‘Book look’ staff meetings where staff can share good practice and evidence of Art and Design across the school. 
• Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.

By the time children leave Thornton Hough Primary School, it is hoped that they will have developed a passion for art and creativity, working both independently and collaboratively. They will have grown in confidence when using a range of tools and techniques, becoming artists that can apply the skills and knowledge that they have developed throughout the years and respond critically to their own and other’s work.