Art and Design

At Ackton Pastures we believe that art and design plays a key part in every child’s creative development. Our aspiration is to provide an enriching art and design education so we can engage, inspire and challenge pupils and equip them with the ability to experiment, invent and create. Through teaching children art and design techniques, we believe we provide our pupils with the skills, concepts and knowledge to allow them to express their responses to ideas and experiences. It fires their imagination and is a fundamental means of personal expression.

Art and Design Statement of Intent

“The rapidly evolving global economy demands a dynamic and creative workforce. The arts and its related businesses are responsible for billions of dollars in cultural exports for this country. It is imperative that we continue to support the arts and arts education both on the national and local levels. The strength of every democracy is measured by its commitment to the arts.”

– Charles Segars, CEO of Ovation

Intent

What will take place before teaching in the classroom?

The school’s senior leadership team will:

Lead the school staff to develop a clear overarching curriculum intent which drives the ongoing development and improvement of all curriculum subjects.
Ensure that the curriculum leaders have appropriate time to develop their specific curriculum intent through careful research and development.
Provide sufficient funding to ensure that implementation is high quality.

The curriculum leader will:

Understand and articulate the expectations of the curriculum to support teaching and support staff in the delivery.
Ensure an appropriate progression of knowledge is in place which supports pupils, as artists, in knowing and remembering more.
Ensure an appropriate progression of artistic skills is in place over time so that pupils are supported to be the best artists they can be, and challenge teachers to support struggling artists and extend more competent artists.
Ensure an appropriate progression for vocabulary is in place for each phase of learning, which builds on prior learning.
Identify artists who underpin specific areas of the curriculum and raise aspirations for pupils.
Keep up to date with current artists, research and subject development through an appropriate subject body or professional group.

The class teacher will, with support from the curriculum leader:

Create a long term plan which ensures appropriate coverage of knowledge, skills and vocabulary from the progression grid.
Personally pursue support to address any particular subject knowledge and skill gaps prior to teaching.
Ensure that resources are appropriate, of high enough quality and are plentiful so that all pupils have the correct tools and materials.

Implementation

What will this look like in the classroom?

Our teaching sequence will be:

‘Big Picture’ and previous knowledge and skills remembered and understood.
Study of an artist (which may include independent research and make links to reading).
Critically evaluating the artists’ work to inform our own art work.
Exploring the artist using known techniques in sketching and shading.
Experimenting and investigating with different techniques, skills and media to create our own art work.
Critically evaluate our own art work.
Improve own work after evaluation.
Reflection and re-cap of knowledge and skills remembered and understood.

Our classrooms will:

Provide appropriate quality equipment for each area of the curriculum.
Have developed learning walls which include high quality WAGOLLs, including artists, and carefully chosen vocabulary, which are regularly updated.
Display works of art, both of artists and pupils, which demonstrate skills and expectations.
Be organised so that pupils can work in small groups or as a whole class as appropriate to support pupils in their development of their skills.
Deploy an appropriately challenging selections of texts, both non-fiction and fiction, accessible throughout learning to develop wider understanding and underpin reading skills.

Our children will be:

Engaged because they are challenged by the curriculum which they are provided with.
Resilient learners who overcome barriers and understand their own strengths and areas for development.
Able to critique their own work as an artist because they know how to be successful.
Safe and happy in art lessons which give them opportunities to explore their own creative development.
Encouraged and nurtured to overcome any barriers to their learning or self-confidence because feedback is positive and focuses on artistic skills and knowledge.
Able to talk about a variety of famous artists over time.
Develop artistic skills and confidence over time because of careful planning, focused delivery and time to practice and hone skills.

Impact

How will this be measured?

Pupil Voice will show:

A developed understanding of the names, key works, styles and techniques of major artists at an age appropriate level.
A secure understanding of the key techniques and methods for each key area of the art curriculum: colour, form, line, tone, texture and shape.
A progression of understanding, with appropriate vocabulary which supports and extends understanding.
Confidence in discussing artists, art, their own work and identifying their own strengths and areas for development.

Displays around school and books will show:

Pupils have had opportunities for practice and refinement of skills.
A varied and engaging curriculum which develops a range of artistic skills.
Close studies of the work of well-known and highly skilled artists which supports their understanding of their skills and techniques.
Developed and final pieces of work which showcase the skills learned.
Clear progression of skills in line with expectations set out in the progression grids.
That pupils, over time, develop a range of skills and techniques across all of the areas of artistic development.

The curriculum leader will:

Celebrate the successes of pupils through planned displays.
Collate appropriate evidence over time which evidences that pupils know more and remember more.
Monitor the standards in the subject to ensure the outcomes are at expected levels.
Provide ongoing CPD support based on the outcomes of subject monitoring to ensure that the impact of the curriculum is wide reaching and positive.

Curriculum Documents

Art and Design Progression Grid Download Icon