Art has a very important place in our curriculum. We see art as a vehicle for creativity and individual expression and it provides opportunities for collaborative work.

It has become increasingly important to offer our children a range of experiences, opportunities within school that they may not access outside of the setting. We want to inspire children to create, experience and participate in a broad curriculum which encompasses arts and culture, exposes children to different cultures and develops cultural literacy. We believe that memorable learning experiences provide the stimulus and motivation for subjects across the curriculum.

Our Art curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials such as: drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work and digital art; and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. Children will be introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the style of famous artists and designers.

The skills they acquire are used across the curriculum, allowing children to use their art skills to reflect on and explore topics in greater depth; for example, by sketching historical events or artefacts in detail, researching geographical locations to support their work on landscape collage or using art as a medium to express emotion and thought to enhance their personal, social and emotional development. Many areas of art link with mathematical ideas of shape and space; for example when printing repeating patterns and designs and thinking about 3D shapes to support structures. It is paramount that art work be purposeful; be this as a means of expression or to explore the styles of other artists that inspire our own work. Pupils should be clear what the intended outcomes are and have a means to measure their own work against this.

In Art, children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can make changes and keep improving. Children are encouraged to take risks and experiment and then reflect on why some ideas and techniques are successful or not for a particular project.

Our art curriculum is taught through:

• High quality teaching - staff have high expectations of all children.
• Emphasising key learning and key vocabulary.
• Imparting knowledge accurately.
• Providing constructive feedback to children.

We also:

• Display and celebrate the pupils’ artwork in their class, around the school and on the school website.
• Organise experts and outside visitors to lead workshops and /or assemblies to inspire and motivate the children.
• Organise or enter art competitions – in house, locally or nationally.
• Hold an ‘Arts Week’ every year and we create an art gallery to showcase our work to the school community.