At St Paul’s CE Primary school, it is our intent to provide our children with the fundamental skills, concepts and knowledge necessary for them to express themselves as artists and designers. We want our children to love art, craft and design. Our school drivers support, strengthen and shape our art curriculum whilst including our vision and values. We want them to be aspirational in their ambitions and to aspire to be illustrators, graphic designers, fashion designers, curators, architects, printmakers and more. Our Art curriculum is designed to engage, inspire and challenge pupils, whilst equipping them with the knowledge and skills to be able to experiment, invent and create their own works of art. Children will learn about themselves as artists and designers and, through studying a range of artists, they will be able to make positive contributions to society and show an understanding and appreciation for individuality, diversity and creativity. As pupils progress, they should 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. 

Art and Design is taught every other half-term alternating with Design and Technology. To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in art and design, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school, using and adapting the Kapow primary scheme of work which follows the Art and Design National Curriculum.  The scheme has been written by experts and is designed to give children every opportunity to develop their ability, nurture their talent and interests, express their ideas and thoughts about the world, as well as learning about the rich heritage and culture of the British Isles and beyond. The art and design curriculum supports children to meet the national curriculum end of key stage attainment targets and also takes into consideration the National Society for Education in Art and Design’s progression. Children have the opportunity to learn and practise art skills discreetly in the Art and design skills and Formal elements of art units. The knowledge and skills from these units are then applied throughout the other units in the scheme. Key skills are revisited and built upon with increasing complexity throughout the years; this allows children to revise and build on their previous learning. The Art and Design curriculum opens up opportunities to explore a diverse range of artists, art movements and styles from around the world. Creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded into the units, supporting children in learning how to make their own creative choices and decisions, so that their art outcomes, whilst still being knowledge-rich, are unique to the child and personal. Lessons are mainly practical in nature and encourage experimental and exploratory learning with, not only Key Stage 2 pupils using sketchbooks (as identified in the National Curriculum) but Key Stage 1 too, to document their ideas. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all children and opportunities to stretch children’s learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support children in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary. Each child has an art sketchbook which shows the progression of key skills during their time at St Paul’s.

To support teachers, professional development there are multiple teacher and pupil videos to view. Children can see art techniques modelled by experts which will ensure the delivery of Art in our school is of the highest quality and pupil progression is of a high standard. The teacher videos develop subject knowledge and support ongoing CPD.

Throughout the year, we provide a variety of opportunities for Art and Design learning inside and outside the classroom;

• Arts Week – which takes place in February every other year. This includes visits from outside artists, teacher workshops, an art exhibition and visits from parents.
• Spring flower paintings – for Mothering Sunday, children use watercolours and their observational skills to paint spring flowers. This is used as an assessment half-way through the year. We also choose a winner from each key stage and they present their Mother with a bouquet of flowers.
• Cross-curricular work throughout the year.
• Ad-hoc events/competitions – i.e Royal Mail Stamp Competition.
• Seasonal events – Christmas/Easter card designs.
• Educational visits.
• Displays in the classroom and corridors.

In Reception, staff select resources to support the teaching of the Early Years curriculum and the achievement of the Early Learning Goals for Expressive Arts and Design ‘Creating with Materials’ and ‘Being Imaginative and Expressive’. EYFS pupils are taught through adult-led and child-initiated activities. Practitioners will consider the Characteristics of Effective Learning when they are planning, leading or supporting learning. Through Expressive Arts and Design, children are encouraged to explore different media, explore how media can be combined to create different effects and develop a range of skills and techniques experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function. 

The Art and Design curriculum is designed in such a way that children are involved in the evaluation, dialogue and decision-making about the quality of their outcomes and the improvements they need to make. By taking part in regular discussions and decision-making processes, children will not only know facts and key information about art, but they will be able to talk confidently about their own learning journey, have higher metacognitive skills and have a growing understanding of how to improve. There are opportunities for both formative and summative assessment throughout the units. 

In Reception, regular observations and assessments of learning are recorded using an online journal (Tapestry) and contribute to a summative assessment at the end of EYFS using the Early Learning Goals for Expressive Arts and Design: ‘Creating with Materials’ and ‘Being Imaginative and Expressive’.

Children should leave St Paul’s CE School equipped with a range of art techniques, knowledge, skills, confidence and the creativity to form a strong foundation for their Art and design learning at Key Stage 3 and beyond.

The expected impact of following our Art and Design curriculum is that children will:

• Produce creative work, exploring and recording their ideas and experiences.
• Be proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.
• Evaluate and analyse creative works using subject-specific language.
• Know about great artists and the historical and cultural development of their art.
• Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National Curriculum for Art and Design.