Art and Design

What are we aiming for?

At Allens Croft Primary School and Resource Base, we aim to engage, inspire and challenge children, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. Throughout their Art journey in school they will be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. The children will produce creative work and recording their experiences in sketch books. They will develop skills in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, techniques. They will learn how to use colour pattern, texture, line, shape form and space and they will study a range of artists in great detail. The children will learn how to peer assess and evaluate their work using the technical knowledge and relevant vocabulary they have been taught.

Our intention is to deliver this through the Kapow Primary’s Art and Design scheme of work. Our scheme is written by experts in their field and designed to give pupils every opportunity to develop their ability, nurture their talent and interests, express their ideas and thoughts about the world, as well as learning about art and artists across cultures and through history.

The impact of our Art and Design curriculum can be seen not only in our children’s sketch books but also through classroom displays and the school environment. Our children are given a broad range of ways to express themselves in art. Learning new skills and using new equipment and resources excites and engages our children. The children are able to use art to help them express their feelings and be unique.

How do we achieve this?

Our curriculum is delivered through carefully planned units from Kapow Primary Art’s Curriculum, bespoke to our children’s needs and interests. To meet the aims of the National Curriculum for Art and Design, and Early Learning Goals and Development matters statements our Art and design units work towards the following key strands:

The units fully scaffold and support age appropriate sequenced learning, and are flexible enough to be adapted to form cross-curricular links with our own school’s curriculum. Creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded into the units, supporting students in learning how to make their own creative choices and decisions, so that their art outcomes, whilst still being knowledge-rich, are unique to the pupils.

Lessons are always practical in nature and encourage experimental and exploratory learning with pupils using sketchbooks to document their ideas. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils by providing a highly visual record of the key knowledge and techniques learned, encouraging recall of skills processes, key facts and vocabulary.

Kapow Primary’s revised Art and design scheme covers the national curriculum aims within four main areas that are repeated every year – drawing; painting and mixed media; sculpture and 3D; and craft and design. This makes it easier for teachers to track the progress of their students’ knowledge and skills in these areas. Teachers can be assured that their students will have the chance to master core subject knowledge by revisiting it and applying it in various contexts with increasing difficulty.

What does success look like?

The expected impact of following the Kapow Primary Art and Design scheme of work is that children will: 

• Produce creative work, exploring and recording their ideas and experiences.
• Be proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.
• Evaluate and analyse creative works using subject-specific language.
• Know about great artists and the historical and cultural development of their art.
• Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National Curriculum for Art and Design

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Art and Design in the early years

In EYFS, Art and Design is taught through the specific area of learning and development; expressive arts and design. This is delivered through using the Kapow Primary Art and Design scheme and through exploration and child-initiated play. Units within the Kapow scheme are organised into four core areas:

• Drawing
• Painting and mixed-media
• Sculpture and 3D
• Craft and design

Through each unit pupils will explore and be introduced to the keys areas that will continue to be built upon in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

Curriculum Overview

Progression of Knowledge and Skills

The Art and Design Progression of skills and knowledge gives an overview of the skills and knowledge covered in each phase and strand and how these skills are developed in order to enable pupils to reach the end of key stage outcomes outlined in the National curriculum. Within each key stage, knowledge is often introduced at the start of the key stage so that there is time for that knowledge to be revisited and applied in later years which is why knowledge accumulation may look heavier in some year groups than others.