At St. Mary's we believe that all pupils can achieve in art and design; that high-quality art lessons will inspire children to think innovatively and develop creative understanding. Our art curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, sculpture and digital art and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas.
Planning for each unit of art and design is high-quality, links with topics and follows the objectives from the National Curriculum. It has been designed in a way which allows the progression of skills across Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
For each unit of art and design, pupils are taught about an artist who works in a similar style. This allows pupils to build their knowledge of local artists and artists of the world and be able to use this to develop their own skills and understanding to create their own innovative pieces of art.
Pupils are taught;
Key Stage 1
- to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products
- to use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
- to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space
- about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work.
Key Stage 2
Pupils are taught to develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.
Our pupils are taught:
- to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
- to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay]
- about great artists, architects and designers in history.