Art

Intent
Why do we teach this? Why do we teach it in the way we do?

At Edlington Victoria Academy, we value Art as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum.
Art and Design provides the children with the opportunities to develop and extend skills and an opportunity to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas.

Our art curriculum stimulates imagination. Art provides visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a unique way of understanding and experiencing the world. We are fully inclusive, and aim to fulfil the aims of the National Curriculum for every child. Children are naturally inquisitive. Our art curriculum will allow children to connect with their inner creativity. Our curriculum will engage, inspire, motivate and challenge children to experiment with new skills, invent, explore and evaluate their own ideas.

We have deliberately built our Art and Design curriculum around the principles of evidence-led practice. We combine some of the stronger elements of the CUSP art curriculum along with our own bespoke art curriculum to ensure that we deliver the very best art teaching to our pupils. This is to ensure that pupils are equipped to successfully think, work and communicate like an artist. Unapologetically ambitious, our art curriculum focuses on excellence in this subject though the exploration of different mediums, skill development and an appreciation of many exceptional artists.

Our intention is unmissable; strong teacher instruction inspires pupils to acquire knowledge, as an artist, and enable them to skilfully attempt and apply their understanding.  It is our intention that through studying Art and Design, pupils become more expert as they progress through the curriculum, accumulating, connecting and making sense of the rich substantive and disciplinary knowledge.

We aim to ensure that all pupils:

  • are able to record from first-hand experience and from imagination.
  • can select their own ideas for use in their work.
  • develop creativity and imagination through a variety of engaging experiences.
  • develop the ability to control materials, tools and techniques.
  • increase their critical awareness of the roles and purposes of art and design from different times and cultures.
  • become confident using different mediums
  • foster an enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts and a knowledge of different artists

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in art and design, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. We primarily focus on the knowledge and skills stated in the National curriculum, and teach art at least once every term.

Substantive Knowledge in art is the core subject knowledge and vocabulary used about the creative artistic process in 2D and 3D and the contribution of artists from a range of genres, times and cultural traditions.  We explore these through the lenses of substantive concepts which are taught through explicit vocabulary instruction as well as through the direct content and context of the study. 

Disciplinary Knowledge in art and design is the interpretation of the elements, how they can be used and combined in order to create a specific and desired effect. It is also the critical evaluation of artists work; evaluating style and technique and having the ability to appraise a piece of work. 

Children will be introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists. The skills they acquire are applied, when relevant to our learning lenses- Identity and Social Justice; Power, Leadership and Invasion; Sustainability and the Impact on our World. 

7 Elements of Art:  line · shape · colour · form · value · texture · space 

7 Principles of Art: · balance · contrast · emphasis · pattern · rhythm · variety · unity 

Implementation
What do we teach? What does this look like? 

Art is taught either weekly or blocked to give more time to work on a particularly project or piece of learning. This is at the discretion of the class teacher and subject leader.  

In Art, children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can make changes and keep improving. In KS2 we use sketchbooks as a tool for practising skills, analysing artists’ work and reviewing and evaluating our own art work. Children are encouraged to take risks and experiment and then reflect on why some ideas and techniques are successful or not for a particular project. 

The art and design sketchbook can be used to; 

  • Practise skills, e.g. drawing techniques such as shading or drawing from different viewpoints. 
  • Collect ideas from a visit – recording first hand observations or adding particular works that interest them on a visit to an exhibition or museum for future reference. 
  • Collect pictures/samples from the internet, magazines, cards etc. 
  • Store photographs. 
  • Collect samples of materials, fabrics and textures. 
  • Show colour strips from colour mixing. 
  • Evaluate their own work and work of other artists. 
  • Store samples of work (these may be stuck in) 
  • Record ideas and thoughts in writing. 
  • Research, collect information and include personal comments about the work of other artists.