Subject Leader - Miss J Burgess

Link Governor - TBC

Art Curriculum Documents

Art Policy

Art Overview

Art Curriculum Map

Intent

We aim to provide every child at The Priory Primary School with a range of opportunities to become proficient in applying an array of skills, techniques, and processes to produce an outcome they can be proud of. 

In the teaching of Art and Design, we strive to ignite creativity, encourage independent thinking, and support exploration, experimentation, evaluation, and analysis throughout. We hope that, through a concise Arts curriculum, we can develop a cultural and historical awareness across subjects. As well as this, we aim to develop confidence in expressing thoughts, feelings, and understanding, in new and exciting ways. We endeavor to ensure all pupils have the opportunity to share their talents within Art and Design, have fun, and gain confidence in expressing themselves in the process.

Curriculum Drivers 

Cultural Heritage: 

• Our Art and Design curriculum aims to inspire our children to be curious about existing artworks, by encouraging them to observe, question, and think critically about a range of artists’ creations. 
• Through structured lessons and a broad curriculum, we aim to give our children the opportunity to partake in activities that will enrich their experiences and develop their problem-solving abilities, such as selecting mediums to accurately recreate famous pieces. 
• Ultimately, we recognise that our Art and Design curriculum should provide pupils with the chance to acquire the skills they will need to express themselves creatively. 
• Where possible, we use school trips and internal visitors to enrich children’s understanding of how and why Art and Design features within the wider world. 

Aspirations: 

• Our Art and Design curriculum is planned around the ideology that all of our pupils will be able to engage with Art and Design, and therefore conversations around Art and Design, throughout their lives.  
• We enrich all curriculum areas, including Art and Design, by introducing our children to different career options linked to subjects, such as painters, illustrators, and sculptors. We do this through lessons, assemblies, and by inviting people within these careers to come and talk to our children. 
• We aim to inspire our children to leave primary school with a love of Art and Design and a desire to study it at secondary school and University. 

Awe and Wonder: 

• Pupils should enjoy what they are learning and topics should foster curiosity, allowing children to ask meaningful questions and think critically. 
• High-quality resources are purchased, created, and used within each topic area to inspire children within Art and Design.
• Where possible, we form partnerships with external organisations and projects to give our children opportunities to learn outside of the curriculum and learn from specialists. 

Experiential learning: 

• We firmly believe in the power that meaningful ‘real life experiences’ can have upon children’s retention and enjoyment. 
• Within every topic, we focus on developing critical thinking skills and using these to improve our outcomes and the outcomes of others. 
• Our specialist STEM room is used to deliver Art and Design lessons, ensuring that children have access to high-quality resources and provisions.  
• Topic planning within Art and Design includes extensive lists of resources that are shared with teachers in advance of lessons being taught. This ensures that each lesson is sufficiently equipped to give children as many experiences and opportunities to practice their Art and Design skills and techniques.
• We believe in giving pupils the freedom to make their own choices about the mediums and equipment they use for their artwork, encouraging them to learn from experience by constantly reflecting and evaluating their work and the work of others. 

Language and oracy: 

• Vocabulary is an integral part of our Art and Design curriculum based on the needs of our pupils. Throughout all Key Stages and topics, key vocabulary is chosen and built upon. This forms a key part of the Art and Design progression maps. 
• To support our children with engaging in conversations around Art and Design, each exercise book has a ‘talk like an artist’ sheet at the front of the book, which gives sentence stems and key vocabulary. In addition to this, each book contains a knowledge organiser of curriculum content covered within KS1 and KS2 as a reference point for pupils and staff. 
• To further encourage the use of higher-order vocabulary, our curriculum provides an opportunity for rich dialogue through Philosophy for Children (P4C), helping children to articulate their own choices and understanding. 
• Storytelling is used to introduce new themes and ideas to help our children retain information and be excited about Art and Design.