Junior School

Art and Design

INTENT

At Leesland C of E Juniors School we believe that art should engage, inspire and challenge all our learners. Through our varied and rich art curriculum we seek to give our children opportunities to be creative, explore their ideas and become proficient in a variety of art techniques. All children are given opportunities to explore and develop their expertise within drawing, painting, printing, sculpture, collage and sewing. Art is an expressive and aspirational subject that encourages students to show resilience and come to know themselves and the cultures around them better. Students will study and discuss the art of a range of significant artists from different eras and cultures. Artist inspirations enable our children to understand how art can reflect its historical and cultural context and how it can be used today as medium to celebrate the cultures of Britain and beyond.

IMPLEMENTATION

Using the National Curriculum as our starting point, we ensure that all pupils:

Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
Become proficient in drawing, painting, printing, sculpture, textiles and collage techniques
Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art
Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

As such, the art curriculum is divided into a series of half-term units which build on skills and knowledge from Year 3 to Year 6, with a focus on at one key artist and art movement. Within each academic year, students are exposed to a variety of traditional, modern and contemporary art styles. Each unit has a primary focus on either sketching, painting, printing, sculpture, textiles or collage.

A typical unit involves:

Learning about a particular artist and period of art history (e.g. Monet and Impressionism)
Responding to and capturing ideas from key artist and art movement
Discussing and exploring a particular piece of artwork
Learning about particular media and techniques
Exploring their own ideas, including experimentation of taught techniques
Producing their own art work
Reflecting, comparing and evaluating their art work with previous attempts, peers’

work and the initial inspirational artist.

Beyond the art units, there are opportunities to use art skills across the curriculum and in stand-alone projects throughout the year.

Visits to local and national galleries where possible

Producing art for local events and national occasions (e.g. Remembrance Day)
Sketching, drawing and painting linked to English, topic or even maths when appropriate
Whole school arts events such as Arts Week

The key impact from this, is that children will find art engaging, motivational and personal. In addition, it should be viewed as a continual source of reflection and improvement.

IMPACT

We want children to be able to:

Take ownership of their own artwork (through sketchbooks and completed final pieces)
Appreciate and be inspired by a range of artists and artistic styles
Learn to use associated vocabulary
Use different media and techniques
Evaluate their own and others’ work with reference to inspiration, intent and impact.

Students are assessed in each unit against our progression of skills document. This enables teachers to see whether students meet the expectations for each year level within the KS2 curriculum. All units are planned with specific art skills in mind – these form the Learning Objectives for each unit. Skills such as the studying of artists and the discussion of artworks form the basis of our art education and are present in all units.

We are keen to celebrate our Art learning at Leesland C of E Federation and proudly display this throughout the school.