Art

Art subject coordinator – Mrs Bhandal

Intent

At Moat Farm Infant School, we value Art and Design 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. We have chosen to use ‘Kapow’ across Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 as it has clear progression of skills and allows for children to be curious, ask questions and become inspired by the diverse world around us.

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 and 3D work and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. We want our children to know about some of the great male and female artists and designers and their differing cultures and histories. We want them to question what ‘great’ means and ask what makes a piece of art ‘great’. We want them to learn not only about well-known artists but other artists too. We will celebrate local artists and designers and learn about newer and less well-known craftspeople. We believe that our curriculum will contribute to the quality of our children’s lives, both within and beyond school.

Art and design in the early years is taught and experienced through a mixture of child initiated, adult directed learning and open-ended play.

In Art, children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can make changes and keep improving. This should be meaningful and continuous throughout the process. This is a cross curricular skill that our children use throughout their time in school within other subjects such as Design and Technology, PE and Music. Children are encouraged to take risks and experiment and then reflect on why some ideas and techniques are successful or not.

Implementation

The teaching and implementation of the Art and Design Curriculum at Moat Farm Infant School is based on the National Curriculum for KS1 and Development Matters for EYFS. Children are taught Art across a half termly period, with planning allowing children to practise, apply and transfer their skills across the curriculum. Our curriculum is designed with four strands which run throughout; These are:

– Making skills
– Formal Elements (Line, shape, tone, texture, pattern, colour)
– Knowledge of artists
– Evaluating

Our lessons focus on retrieval practise of skills they have been taught earlier in their school life. These knowledge and skills are then applied throughout other units of work, which are revisited again and again with increasing complexity through our spiral curriculum model.

Our Art journey is presented in our sketchbooks that has a focus on the experimental stage for our infant school. We then begin to apply our skills and experimental work as we move into Year 2 before progressing into the Juniors. Creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded into our units, supporting children to make their own decisions so that the outcomes, whilst still knowledge rich, are unique and personal to the child.

Early Years Foundation Stage
Pupils explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities.
They have opportunities to learn to:
Explore the textures, movement, feel and look of different media and materials.
Respond to a range of media and materials, develop their understanding of them in order to manipulate and create different effects.
Use different media and materials to express their own ideas.
Explore colour and use for a particular purpose.
Develop skills to use simple tools and techniques competently and appropriately.
Select appropriate media and techniques and adapt their work where necessary.

Key stage 1
Pupils are taught:
– 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.

Impact

Our Art curriculum is designed for children to enjoy learning as well as ensuring there is clear progression and challenge. We measure the impact through termly data analysis to inform our planning for the next term. On entry to Reception, 39% of children are on track and by the time they leave us in year 2, 98% of children are on track. Regular celebrations of learning demonstrate progression across the school. Pupil voices shows us that one of the children’s favourite subjects is Art and Design! This is something we are really proud of. Monitoring shows us that children are aware of a range of artists and are taught the skills needed for later life.

Non-Negotiables for Art and Design

· In Reception and KS1 teachers plan and teach following our scheme, KAPOW
· Sketchbooks are used in KS1. Dates are written on each piece of work but no learning objective needed.
· Floors books are used in EYFS labelled as EAD
· Teachers do not mark work in sketchbooks. Children are encouraged to evaluate their own work and make annotations where appropriate.
· Key vocabulary is shared with the children but not stuck in sketchbooks.
· Artwork that is too big to fit in in sketch books is photographed and stuck in. Likewise, for 3D work.
· Sketchbooks should show a journey of investigation and exploration before a final piece of artwork.
· Specific art vocabulary should be evident in on working walls where appropriate.
· Teachers assess their children every term

End of Key Stage expectations for Art and Design

By the end of EYFS pupils will have had the opportunity to:
· Develop artistic and cultural awareness supporting imagination and creativity
· Explore and play safely with a variety of materials, tools and techniques
· Develop understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and the ability to communicate through the arts
· Be inspired through a wide variety of books to create pieces of art
· Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants

By the end of KS1 pupils will have had the opportunity to:
· Experiment with drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
· Develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space
· Learn about the work of a diverse range of artists, craft makers and designers and make links to their own work
· Begin a learning journey in their sketch book, using this as a place to investigate, experiment, make mistakes, create and evaluate

Books that inspire Design and Technology – Click one to enjoy