Art
Art at Our Lady of Compassion
Intent
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. 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.
We want our children to love art and design! We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and to grow up wanting to be illustrators, graphic designers, fashion designers, curators, architects or printmakers.
We want to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. We want our children to use the vibrancy of our surroundings as inspiration, to learn from other cultures and respect diversity. We study a wide range of unique and diverse artists, craft makers and designers across all key stages and have planned opportunities for children to visit the Art galleries and museums of Liverpool and surrounding areas.
Implementation:
At Our Lady’s we have adopted the Kapow Art curriculum. This is organised into blocks with each block covering a particular set of artistic disciplines, including drawing, painting and mixed media, sculpture and 3D and craft and design. Vertical progression in each discipline has been deliberately woven into the fabric of the curriculum so that pupils can revisit key disciplines throughout their Primary journey at increasing degrees of challenge and complexity. (See Long Term Plan)
In addition to the core knowledge required to be successful within each discipline, the curriculum outlines key aspects of artistic development in each year group. Each module will focus on developing different aspects of these competencies. This will support teachers in understanding pupils’ development as artists more broadly, as well as how successfully they are acquiring the taught knowledge and skills. Additionally, teachers can be assured that students will have the chance to master core subject knowledge by revisiting it and applying it in various contexts with increasing difficulty.
Through each topic of work, the children are introduced to various artists and taught basic skills to analyse and discuss art. Pupils evaluate artworks and develop their own creative practices while covering all national curriculum attainment targets for a comprehensive understanding of art’s formal elements. The programme prioritises creativity through experimentation and teachers adapt the units to connect with other subjects. Sketchbooks play a significant role in developing skills and evaluating progress towards the final outcome.
What do we teach?
EARLY YEARS
Children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes.They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and stories.
See Long term planning attached for KS1 and KS2 overview.
Knowledge Organiser
The knowledge organiser provides an overview of the expected outcomes for the block and details of the artistic knowledge and skills pupils will be expected to have acquired by the end of the block. It includes detailed explanations of the core knowledge covered in each block.
The units are supported by vocabulary progression lists which provide both resources for teaching and learning vital vocabulary and provide teachers with the vocabulary needed for the block.
We aim to provide a high challenge with low threat culture and put no ceiling on any child’s learning, instead providing the right scaffolding for each child for them to achieve.
INCLUSION: NO ‘ONE SIZE FITS ALL’
‘A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.’ Art and design National Curriculum 2013.
Each SEND child is unique with varying need.We plan adaptations for individual children with ‘Strengths, no weaknesses’ at the forefront of our minds.
At Our Lady’s, we aim to:
● Plan inclusive lessons, taking into account all pupils’ needs and celebrating individual expression
● Be flexible in our approach, teaching using a wide range of processes, materials and stimuli
● Challenge stereotypes around being an artist and promote positive attitudes
● Feel confident about how to remove barriers and make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to lessons
Art is a powerful tool and can have many positive outcomes for ALL children.
Quote from Bright Hub Education: “Art can be used to learn, heal or just relax. As a teacher you have an important part to play, You are the motivator and encourager, the organiser, the guide. Be sensitive to the child’s needs. Be creative with adaptations. Be supportive. How you play your roles will make a big difference to the child’s experience and learning.”
Impact
At Our Lady’s, art, craft and design learning is loved by teachers and pupils across school. Teachers and children have high expectations and they strive to reach their full potential with confidence. The impact of our curriculum will lead to outstanding progress over time across key stages relative to a child’s individual starting point and their progression of skills.Children will therefore be expected to leave Our Lady’s reaching at least age related expectations for Art and Design. Our Art and Design curriculum will also lead pupils to be enthusiastic learners, evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice and their work.
How do we know what the children have learned?
The assessment of pupils is formative based on pupil outcomes and questioning from each lesson. The following can be used to assess pupils’ knowledge and application of artistic techniques and their understanding and use of artistic vocabulary.
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Expectations for each block are made explicit in plans, e.g. At the end of this block pupils will know marks can be made using a variety of drawing tools and will be able to select appropriate tools and make a range of marks.
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The Success Criteria section specifies the expected outcome for each lesson.
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The Questions for Assessment (Recap and Recall) section in each block provide specific questions to be used with pupils to elicit their level of understanding of tools, techniques and effects, e.g. What happens if you change the size of the mark?
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enable teachers to evaluate pupils’ ability to:
- use artistic language effectively;
- explain artistic techniques and processes; - evaluate their own and others’ work.
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The quiz also provides an opportunity for teachers to assess pupils’ deeper understanding and application of artistic and technical vocabulary covered in the block.
The best form of assessment in art is in-action, while pupils are working. This helps us to understand pupils’ development as artists, rather than their ability to produce a prescribed end outcome. By encouraging pupils to articulate their thinking and reflections, we can understand which aspects of artistic development they may require additional teaching in and reshape teaching to support this.
Example of Recap and Recall
Pupil Book Study Tells Us
1. What impact is our CURRICULUM having?
2. Does teaching support LONG-TERM LEARNING?
3. Do tasks enable pupils to THINK HARD and CREATE LONG-TERM MEMORY? How impactful are tasks, and do they help pupils to think hard and generate learning?
Examples of Learning
Year 5 looked at mixed media artwork and used a combination of different materials and techniques to create a self-portrait.
We looked at the artist Cai Guo-Qiang and recreated a ‘explosive’ 3D installation art piece.
Here, we took the opportunity to link Art and other subjects. We created our own lanterns after learning about the beliefs and festivals linked to Islam.
