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Art & Design Curriculum Statement

Intent

At Alston Lane, our art and design curriculum encourages and supports our children to develop the self-belief needed to be creative.  We believe that art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity and we value and celebrate this throughout our school community.  Our art and design curriculum engages, inspires and challenges pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.  As pupils progress through our school, they are taught to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design.  We believe that it important that children know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

Implementation

Our curriculum is spiralised so that all pupils have the opportunity to revisit and develop their skills and knowledge of each of the art and design disciplines outlined in the National Curriculum.  This spiralised approach allows children to practise and develop skills, build on prior learning and gain deeper knowledge within each discipline.  

Each unit of work is linked, where possible, to another area of the curriculum so that the children’s final outcome is purposeful and relevant.  Final outcomes are celebrated in school and within our local community so that our children can feel proud of their creativity. 

Each unit of work focuses on one discipline (e.g. sculpture, collage, textiles etc) but drawing, painting and sketching skills are woven throughout each unit as the children develop ideas, evaluate their own and others’ work and practise the new skills they are learning.  Within each unit, children will learn how to use colour, texture, form and pattern to create desired effects and they will experiment freely with a range of media and materials.

Sketch books are used from year one through to year six as a way of supporting the children to develop their creativity.  From an early age, we encourage our children to use their sketchbook as a space where they can freely express, create, develop skills and evaluate work.  As they progress through school, our children will develop subject specific vocabulary which will help them to effectively appraise their own and others’ works of art.   

Knowledge Progression 

Each unit of work within our art and design curriculum is further developed in a 'learning journey' document, which describes, in detail, the key knowledge that we want the children to acquire. 

These documents provide the medium term planning details that staff require to ensure prior knowledge is built upon, whilst looking forwards to future learning opportunities.