Art and Design

High quality art and design education equips children with the skills to explore, experiment, create and invent their own work of art whilst engaging, inspiring and challenging pupils. As artists, we aim for all our children at Upton St James (USJ) to be able to critically evaluate their work and the work of others, taking influence from well-known artists and adapting their work accordingly. As their skill set progresses, this will enable them to ‘rise to their best’ and understand how art has changed their landscape, culture and history.

At USJ, we aim to inspire all children to express their individuality, thoughts and ideas through a variety of creative opportunities. At our school, art and design is a vital part of the curriculum and we aim to encourage all children to appreciate and value great works of art, including historical and contemporary art as well as artefacts and images from other cultures.

We aim for children to show an appreciation and value of art, using art as a means to promote well-being and individuality. We aim for children to create confidently, drawing on their repertoire of skills and using a range of artistic mediums. We intend for children to feel pride in their creations by celebrating children’s outcomes on display around the school and through exhibitions with a public audience, we want children to feel ambitious and understand that working in the arts can be a career choice. We also intend for our children to use art as a means to demonstrate ‘loving their neighbour as themselves’ (taken from Mark 12 v30-31) by supporting and encouraging others’ with their art learning.

As a school, we use Access Art as our scheme of learning, which clearly breaks down the ‘substantive knowledge’ and ‘implicit knowledge/ skills’ in a clearly progressive way from EYFS to Year 6.

In the Early Years, Art and Design is taught as a discrete subject as well as incorporated into the continuous provision. Art and Design learning opportunities make important contributions to children’s development in the areas of Expressive Arts and Design, Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal, Social and Emotional development. Art is covered in art lessons, continuous provision and as a means of communication and learning in other curriculum areas.

From Year 1 upwards, Art and Design is taught each term, as well as incorporated in cross-curricular weeks throughout the year. Teachers use the Access Art ‘pathways’ on the Access Art portal to ensure they are teaching high-quality Art and Design and children record their learning individually in sketchbooks.

Assessment for learning underpins teaching and learning in Art and Design. Children will be given opportunities to reflect on what they already know and understand and which elements of art they are going to develop next.

Assessment of art knowledge is ongoing, and the use of sketch books aids this. Verbal feedback will be given within the lesson to encourage children to think critically about their own work and make improvements within the lesson.

Art attainment is reported to parents in the child’s annual report.

The subject leader can offer support at any time with identifying opportunities for and devising suitable assessment approaches or open questions.

The impact for children will be that they:

1. Experience a range of opportunities to express themselves creatively and develop an understanding of the freedom of expression that this provides
2. Experience a broad, balanced arts curriculum, with an emphasis on the development and understanding of skills in art and design
3. Experience the enriching impact of art in other areas of the curriculum
4. Begin to develop an awareness of the emotional impact the arts have on themselves and an audience
5. Create their own artwork that they are proud of and recognise their personal growth in art