Art and Design Curriculum Statement 

Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education 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 (NC 2014).

Our art curriculum has been designed to ensure children are able to explore, design, create and learn core knowledge and skills as well as be inspired by creative pieces and people so that they can become designers and creators of the future.

Put simply, we want to ensure each and every child ‘can do art’ and has the time and opportunities to be artistic in their own unique way.

In school we focus on, not only high-quality art and design, but the ways children can be inspired and challenged by art and design in the world around them. We equip them with the ideas, knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design as well as develop appropriate subject specific knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum so that they can meet end of key stage attainment targets.

Put simply, we positively endorse the progression of artistic skills throughout school so that all children are ready for their next phase of learning.

Creativity is encouraged through individual and collaborative learning experiences, a positive growth mind set, a sense of responsibility and challenges that take them beyond the classroom. We are a small Christian school and use Christian artists, crafts people, art work and scriptures to help promote our understanding of spiritual art and the impact this can have on the artist and observer.

Put simply, children will be able to appreciate art and design from a range of cultures, people and times.

Our curriculum is: CYCLICAL as pupils return to the same skills again and again throughout the key stages. It focuses on: INCREASING DEPTH so that each time a skill is revisited it is covered with greater complexity. We also emphasize PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: returning to a skill, prior knowledge is utilised so pupils can build upon previous foundations, rather than starting again. All lessons are based on one of four stands: making skills, formal elements, knowledge of artists and evaluating which includes their own work as well as that of others.

Put simply, creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded supporting pupils learning and helping them to make their own creative choices and decisions.

The impact of our art curriculum is that as pupils progress through school, they will be able to think, talk and critically develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They will also know key facts about art and they will be able to talk confidently about their own learning journey.  Ultimately, our children will have a confident set of art and design skills and knowledge, supported by Christian values which will be used to get ahead in education and life more generally.

Put simply, they will learn more, remember more, enjoy more and develop more creatively, spiritually, socially and emotionally. Thus, enabling them to be ready for their next stage in education.