Art

At Market Drayton Junior School, we are committed to providing our children with an Art & Design curriculum that is creative, reflective and impacts positively upon the children’s needs.

Our Values in Art

Intent - How have we designed our art curriculum?

At Market Drayton Junior School, we recognise that Art and Design touches every part of our daily lives and as such we give the teaching and learning of Art the prominence that it deserves. We want children 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.

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. We want children to express their interpretations of a design brief, exploring work of other artists and working creatively, using similar skills and techniques, not to produce identical copies. 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.

Children are provided with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work and digital art and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. Children will be introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists.

Teaching Art and Design at our school aims to open our children’s eyes and minds to the world around them whilst practising skills and techniques to help them think creatively, to gain an understanding of specific processes and also to understand the impact and inspirations of artists in our past, today, and for the future. The appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts enriches all of our lives.

Implementation – How do we deliver the art curriculum?

Our Art Curriculum design is based on Chris Quigley Essentials Curriculum. This covers the national curriculum, with space for a local curriculum offer and helps to structure the curriculum across the primary phase.

Underpinned by the vision and values, our art curriculum sets out a clear breadth of what will be covered:

Progression

Progression and structure through the art curriculum is supported by a ‘threshold concepts’. The ‘threshold concepts’ are what pupils should understand and underpin the breadth of study.  These include:

• Developing ideas 
• Mastering techniques
• Take inspiration from the greats

The children return to each concept again and again through each area in the curriculum breadth.  This helps the children develop as artists and designers, and secures the concept development into long term memory and allows for progression. This increases their knowledge of the areas of Art over time.

Links to other subjects

Where appropriate the teaching of our Art & Design is linked to other curriculum areas. Here are some of the ways we link art to other subjects:

Special Education Needs in Art & Design

Although a child may have been identified as having a special educational need, they may not have a special educational need in art. Within Art & Design, we aspire to create inspiring, explorative lessons linked to engaging topics across the curriculum.  We strive to maintain an inclusive learning environment, working with additional adults and using multi-sensory approaches, including the use of technology, to explore and create, allowing pupils to express ideas and develop them.

When planning, we take into account pupils’ needs and celebrating individual expression, promoting positive attitudes. We set suitable learning challenges to overcome potential barriers to learning and assessment and modify the curriculum to remove barriers so all pupils meet the same objectives.

Throughout a sequence of lessons, we continue to develop adult-pupil communication to motivate, question, challenge and assess all children. The revisiting of techniques and processes helps to build skills and consolidate these to long term memory for our children’s progression into Key Stage 3. From an early age, we encourage our children to reflect on their own and others’ work, encouraging the use of specific terminology.  

Art Beyond the Classroom

To raise children’s aspirations as artists, we always look for opportunities beyond the classroom. 

This includes our annual community calendar competition and annual journal design competition. We have been fortunate to have local artists and practitioners visiting the school to demonstrate to the children the creative career opportunities which are possible, further endorsing the notion that Art & Design is an important part of our curriculum and holds a vital part in our wider lives and industry.

Art & Design clubs have been organised for children of all ages and abilities by teaching staff, to extend the children’s awareness of photography and animation.

We regularly enter local and national competitions with success, for example, John Lewis, Button & Bear and Bookfest. We also work alongside local housing company David Wilson Homes to produce artwork for their stationary and decorations.

Impact

Art has a high profile within school. This ranges from displays to showcase the work which has been achieved within the subject.

Children develop each concept over time and it takes a two-year period to get to a deeper level of understanding at the appropriate age.  For example, in Years three and five, children will have a basic understanding of art at an age appropriate level, but by revisiting this they should have a deeper level of understanding and have developed their skills by Years four and six.  Progression in their work as artists is shown in their sketch books.

Through the explicit teaching of skills in art, both the teachers and the pupils assess their learning continuously throughout the lesson. Teacher judgements are based upon a triangulation of work across sketchbooks, final pieces and teacher observation of the children’s work within the classroom.

To conclude, the impact and measures of the above are to ensure that the children not only acquire the appropriate age related knowledge linked to the Art & Design curriculum, but also to embrace and nurture a love of Art which has been fostered within school, to encourage a strong sense of creativity, reflection and exploration within the children for today and as they continue through their academic journey and potential future job prospects.