Art & Design

Our approach - We aim to enable all children to be involved in Art and Design lessons making it unique to them, while understanding its importance in history, culture and creativity. Art lessons should enable children to achieve and aspire towards the use of their wider talents. We work hard to learn about the techniques involved in creating our masterpieces, from colour mixing, tone, pattern, texture as well as discovering the work of artists and designers. Children will be taught to appreciate other artists' work and develop their thoughts and opinions about it. 

Our Art and Design teaching and learning at Wenhaston is in line with our overall curriculum vision.

We teach the art of good self communication and communication with others. We set about our tasks with the approach  What do I need to do? What resources do I have/need?  What methods are best for this? etc. Due to the nature of testing new techniques and methods, resilience is also a much needed skill, in order to achieve the best ‘final piece.’ We also encourage the ‘critique’ of both our own and others' artwork. We want children to ‘aim high’ moving beyond simple activities so that they have an understanding of the whole process involved with specific techniques.

Finally we try to link this to the bigger picture globally, how does this fit within other parts of the world? Other cultures and traditions? Work of famous Artists?

Timetable expectations - 

The teaching of Art and Design varies throughout the school depending on what units are being covered, sometimes units may be blocked whereas others may be taught on a weekly basis. This is down to the discretion of the teacher and the other timetable commitments they have each term. We aim to cover 3 topics per year to fit in with our mixed aged classes so that children meet the skills in a logical order…each topic will have a title linked to the medium and will then have essential skills that should either be taught, or revisited and built upon from previous units.  For some topics it may be logical to then extend it e.g a drawing unit may be extended into a 3D unit.  A painting unit may be extended to focus on particular artists that are well known for that particular skill.  So by the end of Key Stage 2 all children should have met units in Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Printing, Collage and Textiles at least 3 times, once in KS1, once in LKS2 and once in UKS2.

Principles and expectations -

In every classroom you should see a process that links directly to the elements of art, which in turn will provide children with the necessary disciplinary knowledge (at their level) to further their understanding of Art.

Elements of Art document.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zQZjnYMzpYyzK3JPTK8Ll4zHYZ6xswwlvRQ_SqPHWpY/edit

A typical art lesson will look different in each room but the underlying principles should remain the same, children should be learning art for ‘art's sake’ and not because a picture could fit into a topic. Children should be exposed to the correct terminology so that they can learn to use it more confidently and get better at it over time. 

We encourage our children to think of themselves as Artists and their Artwork is regularly shared with an audience.  We have a commitment to a local gallery which happens annually, in which all children are represented.  We also have recently set up a rolling programme throughout the school where each child will have work on show twice throughout the year in the village hall.  This is accompanied by a comment book where members of the local community (several of whom are working artists) can share their views on the children's work.

Recording and Marking - 

Sketch books are used in all classrooms to compile evidence.  These books move on with the children as they change classes rather than start anew each year.

Resources needed - 

We have a well resourced art cupboard, however specific skills may need specific resources so allow time to order resources if needed, similarly leave a warning if you take the last…to allow time to restock.

Scheme, resources and licences - 

We do not currently follow a specific scheme.  Some units are taken from Cornerstones where they are available, others may come from The Suffolk Art scheme, or the teachers own plans.

Teaching sequence in every class (Two year overview): 

Vocabulary and terminology progression: 

National Curriculum progression for art document. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wJq3wmhV8-45P2Vt6YV0gsJgO8cjMR1fWs_DUZqOrpA/edit

Assessment and monitoring: 

Art and Design is monitored by CW during projects where opportunities arise and recorded as ‘observations.’

It also features in CS LIDS discussions.

Updated February 2024