By the time our children leave our school, we want them to be confident in their own creativity, recognising that Art is a valuable subject in its own right. We want them to appreciate the wide range of different forms of art, experiencing as many as possible through their time in school.

We follow the National Curriculum for the teaching of Art and teach it through a focus on the following three concepts;

• Mastering practical art skills with a focus on drawing and painting through the school
• Taking inspiration from artists across the world and through time
• Learning to evaluate and analyse their own and other artists’ work

In order to enable our children to develop their skills and appreciation of art, it is important that our art curriculum provides well-designed opportunities for children to learn and practice their skills in a progressive manner through the school, starting in Early Years. They also need the opportunities to grow and develop their appreciation and knowledge of art as they move through the school. Each year group’s curriculum builds on the learning from previous years, making links to past learning of both skills and knowledge. Sketch books, used specifically to develop their skills in drawing and painting are used through the school. By the end of year 6, we want our children to have developed a real enjoyment and appreciation of art, as well as having the skills which they can build on through secondary school and beyond.

We alternate the teaching of Art every half term with Design and Technology to ensure that the children receive quality teaching in both areas throughout the year. We use a published programme to support planning our Art lessons, Access Art which gives the children the opportunities to cover the three concepts above and revisit throughout their time in school to ensure knowledge and skills are embedded.

A key part of our Art curriculum is to build cultural capital, exposing children to artists and artwork that they will not normally encounter. Visits to galleries, be they virtual or in real life, meeting local artists, creating large community art installations, valuing their own opinions of selected artworks etc. are all key to enabling our children to grow in their appreciation of art.