Art and Design Curriculum Statement

At Carnagill School, our curriculum is built around the attitudes and values of independence, curiosity, aspiration, commitment, kindness and pride.  Our school motto of ‘Inspiring Bright Futures Together’ demonstrates our commitment to developing the whole child so that they can succeed in life. Mental health and well-being is a key driver in restoring our school community after the disruption of the pandemic.

At Carnagill School, the curriculum we offer is based around the four key principles of:

We underpin all of this with:

Context

At Carnagill, we believe that our Art and Design curriculum encourages our children to express their creativity and individuality. We want our children to be inspired, to develop their knowledge, understanding and curiosity about inspirational artists and artwork from around the world. Throughout our Art and Design curriculum, children will gain a deeper understanding of how Art and Design reflects and shapes our history, and how it contributes to the culture, creativity and wealth of our world.

We recognise that due to the Garrison location of our school, many of our children lack knowledge of the wider world around them as well as the opportunity to develop their cultural experiences through visits to museums and galleries, so, through our Art and Design Curriculum, we support our children to not only develop a cultural understanding, but a personal understanding, supporting social, emotional and cultural development.

In our school a small minority of children come from different countries around the world such as Fiji and Nepal. We believe that this should be celebrated and all children should learn about culturally and ethnically diverse art, artists and designers from around the world. We aim for children to develop their understanding of art within the wider community as well as the value of art itself.

As a Thrive school, we understand the importance of supporting children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing. Our Art and Design curriculum supports this to enable children to become creative and reflective learners who are able to express themselves confidently in a variety of different ways.

Intent

At Carnagill Primary School we want children to:

• Be independent by expressing their individuality and creativity through planning, designing and making
• Be curious by showing an interest in artists and artwork that interests them and showing enthusiasm to discuss and evaluate artwork
• Aspire to broaden their cultural experiences and knowledge through exciting, practical work. Show enthusiasm and want to develop their own artistic style
• Show commitment by persevering and experimenting to develop self-confidence and trust when learning new art forms and skills
• Show kindness to all, positively commenting on the work of others and developing an understanding that in art there is no right or wrong.
• Be proud of their work and achievements and want to share this with others

Implementation

Our Art and Design curriculum is taught through engaging and exciting topics where children are given opportunities to link their learning in a cross-curricular way, as well as creating links to real-life.

We aim to ensure that children:

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
• Become proficient in basic art skills such as drawing, painting and sculpture
• Evaluate and analyse creative work, using vocabulary related to Art and Design
• Know about past and present artists, craft makers and designers
• Understand the historical and cultural development of different art forms

At Carnagill, key skills and knowledge are a high priority. Key knowledge and skills for Art and Design are selected from the National Curriculum and have been mapped across the school to show a clear progression from EYFS to KS1 and then to KS2. Basic skills underpin all learning throughout the Art and Design curriculum.

Within Art and Design, children explore ways to represent and express their feelings and emotions, as well as show their knowledge and understanding of other subjects. Children are encouraged to build on their independent learning skills, allowing them to build ownerships of their work and resilience. Children are encouraged to strengthen and develop the links between past learning and current learning through the use of meta-cognitive sentence stems such as ‘What do you see?’, ‘What do you notice?’ ‘What can you tell me about…’, ‘I wonder…’  which allows the children to draw on what they already know, linking previous knowledge to new knowledge, supporting them to remember more.

Art lessons will include individual, small group and large group, collaborative work to give children the opportunity to share their ideas and reflect upon their work, thinking critically and creatively. Direct teacher inputs will be used to develop children’s understanding of skills and techniques as well as correct vocabulary. In line with the National Curriculum, children learn basic art skills such as drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles and sculpture in EYFS and KS1and are able to refine and develop these skills during KS2.

The evidence of children’s work is collected within an art sketch book which follows the children from Year One throughout school. Photographs of larger, group or 3D pieces and work relating specifically to another subject may be kept within specific topic books which allows links between learning to be made and seen by the children.

Vocabulary and the development of vocabulary is at the heart of our curriculum. Our children will be introduced to a range of subject specific vocabulary throughout the topics they learn about each year. This vocabulary will be highlighted and modelled during teaching time. Teachers will have high expectations that children will try to use correct vocabulary and encourage them to do so. The development of vocabulary and prioritising of talk will help children to build transferable skills to allow them to communicate and share their learning.

Impact

Children will:

• Learn vocabulary and key words specific to Art and Design and understand when to use this vocabulary
• Be curious about their learning. Show an enjoyment when learning about art and artists from around the world and want to find out more
• Be proud of their achievements and want to share this with others
• Develop their art skills and learn about different art forms
• Show a positive attitude towards Art and Design and be willing to ‘have a go’

Art Curriculum

Art Progression