Art and Design Curriculum Statement

Intent

At Ford we believe that art is a vital part of children’s education and has a significant and valuable role in the broad and balanced curriculum we offer our pupils. Art contributes to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection. The art curriculum will develop children’s critical abilities and understanding of their own and others’ cultural heritages through studying a diverse range of male and female artists.

Understanding of the visual elements of art and design (line, tone, texture, colour, pattern, shape, 3D form) will be developed by providing a curriculum which will enable children to reach their full potential. We teach a skills-based art curriculum, which gives opportunities for children to express their creative imagination as well as practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting, printing, textiles and sculpture.  

Implementation

At Ford, we endeavour to use a variety of teaching and learning styles in art and design lessons with our principal aim being to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding within the subject. Children will be given the opportunity to develop their understanding of the visual language of art with effective teaching and considered sequences of lessons and experiences, including effective and insightful feedback, allowing all children to make progress within the subject.

We ensure that the act of investigating and making something includes exploring and developing ideas, and evaluating and developing work. We do this best through a mixture of whole-class teaching and individual or group activities. Teachers draw attention to good examples of individual performance as models for the other children, allowing the children to constantly be evaluating their own work and making decisions to develop their own learning as we encourage children to evaluate their own ideas and methods, and the work of others, and to say what they think and feel about them.

We give children the opportunity to work, by themselves and in collaboration with others, on projects in two and three dimensions, and at different scales. Children also have the opportunity to use a wide range of materials and resources, including Information and Communication Technology.

Impact

We ensure that children:

• develop creativity and imagination through a range of complex activities

• become confident to recognise and use a range of different medias

• develop their own thoughts and ideas, allowing them to develop pride in their artwork

• build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design, evaluate and critique their own work and ideas, as well as the work of others

• foster an enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts, and a knowledge of artists, craftspeople and designers

Children learn how to become independent thinkers and problem solvers, becoming resourceful, innovative, and evaluative artists. Through the analysis of contemporary and classic artists, children develop a critical understanding of its impact on entertainment, heritage and culture. High-quality art education makes an essential contribution to the creativity of children throughout their lives.

How do we check the impact? 

• Displays of art work throughout the school.  

• Monitoring of art and design teaching through various methods used by the subject leader and senior leadership team. 

• We track progress and attainment through WTS, ARE and GDS.

Link to the Art & Design programme of study:

Art & Design