Intent

At St Bartholomew’s, our aim is for all children to develop a real love of art through a curriculum that engages, inspires creativity and empowers children to have the confidence to express their interests, thoughts and ideas. Through a diverse art curriculum, which provides children with a range of rich and memorable artistic experiences, both inside and beyond the classroom, children will become increasingly knowledgeable and skilful as they develop their unique artistic identities. Our vision is that, through exposure to a range of artists, craft makers, designers and artistic styles, children will be inspired and build an understanding of the importance of art across different cultures and in its reflection and shaping of history. An essential principle of our art curriculum is to provide children with opportunities to practise and experiment with different techniques and media so that they may develop their skills across the formal elements of art and become increasingly confident and resilient as artists who think creatively and critically as they develop their ideas. Children will become increasingly reflective through meaningful discussion of their observations, thoughts and experiences, and will use their assessments to inform decision-making and adaptation during the creative process.

Implementation

We have developed a broad and rich art curriculum, which will provide our children with an exciting and varied introduction to the world of art and a progression document to ensure that each element of the art curriculum is experienced to its fullest. As pupils move through school, they will express their creativity and imagination whilst building upon their knowledge of art, exploring increasingly challenging media and techniques to widen their range of skills and practising and embedding these across a range of experiences. A focus on experimentation to develop ideas and skills will build children’s confidence and resilience in the creative process.

Art and design is taught for the first half of each term and where appropriate, topics are linked to other curriculum areas to enhance children’s learning. Lessons are sequenced in order to build knowledge and skills that can be reflected upon and included in designing and creating a final outcome. Children may begin each unit by studying existing art and experimenting with styles and techniques linked to their topic to inspire their imaginations and allow them to practise and develop the skills they will later need to create their own artwork. Evidence of their creative process will be recorded in their sketch books with photographs of larger artwork or 3D art included for children to look back at and draw upon their previous experiences and successes.

Impact

The curriculum that we have developed will enable children to experience and engage in art across a range of different areas to gain the knowledge and skills that will prepare them for the future. All children will make progress that will be evident in the learning journeys that are documented in their sketch books, where the objectives set out in the progression document are explored and developed into final outcomes through effective lesson sequencing. As children move through school, lessons will progressively build upon their prior knowledge and skill and support children in producing outcomes of increasingly higher quality.

A vital part of the creative process is the ability to reflect upon experiences and ideas in order to review and modify designs and shape high quality outcomes. In each lesson, children will be encouraged to reflect on their progress and evaluate their outcomes against success criteria. A developing vocabulary related to the formal elements of art and topics children have studied should support effective reflection of experiences and communication of ideas.