“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein
At Southill Primary 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. At Southill we encourage children to express their ideas and understanding both individually and reciprocally with others. Children use Art as a medium to express their own views, emotions and experiences, making connections with art work by great artists which has inspired them.
Below are some examples of children’s self portraits in the style of Picasso from across the school.
Our high-quality Art and Design education equips our artists with the knowledge and skills to experiment and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design as well as further developing their experiences and techniques, selecting from and using a wider range of materials. The exploration of different materials starts in Reception where children have the freedom to access and explore arts and crafts materials and equipment as they please. Children experience guided art sessions focusing on key skills, such as colour mixing and are then able to follow this up in their continuous provision. This allows children to follow up their own creativity and develop their curiosity. Children’s art work is displayed in the classroom, this allows the children to reflect on their own practice, go back and continue to develop skills that they have been taught.
Art and Design is taught through our Cornerstones Curriculum projects and is planned to ensure progression of skills and knowledge. Each year groups starts with a ‘Mix It’ project at the beginning of the academic year where children recap key skills and knowledge such as primary and secondary colours, colour mixing and tints tones and shades.
At Southill, all children from Year One upwards have their ownArt book which they build upon and add to year by year. This allows the children to reflect upon their work, jot down ideas and create visuals. At Southill we are developing our use of sketchbooks, encouraging children to move away from thinking of it as a book for ‘sketching’ and start to see it as an ‘Art Book’ where they can explore, develop and create with individuality. Children are encouraged to use, but not replicate, the art work that is being explored.
During Key Stage One there is a primary focus on children using colour, pattern, line and shape to develop their ideas. They learn about and compare work by famous artists and begin to create their own artwork inspired by this.
This then progresses as the children move into Key Stage Two where they develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity. Below you can see an example of how children’s knowledge and skills have developed when looking at colour mixing. This is a vital skill which is revisited each year at Southill.
Children at southill also enjoy an Arts Week each year. This gives all children further opportunities to explore a range of materials and different artists. Each year the artists are chosen to ensure children are learning about a diverse range of Artists from around the world as well as artists that interest and inspire our children linking with their own interests.
Through following a clear and comprehensive scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum, teaching and learning will show progression across all key stages within the strands of Art and Design. Subsequently, more children will achieve age related expectations in Art at the end of their cohort year and Key Stage.
It is our aim at Southill to ensure learning is ‘sticky’. This helps to support children with retaining knowledge and skills taught within each unit of work, remember these and understand how to use and apply these in their own art work, whilst beginning to understand what being an ‘artist’ means. They will then be able to build upon these as key skills are revisited and built upon year on year.
At Southill Primary School children leave Year 6 having developed a passion for art and creativity, working both independently and collaboratively. They will have grown in confidence when using a range of tools and techniques, becoming artists that can apply the skills and knowledge that they have developed throughout the years and respond critically to their own and other’s work.
Why not find out more by looking at these recent class blogs!