Art & Design

INTENT

Art and design teaching instils an appreciation and enjoyment of art. Art and design stimulates imagination and creativity; involving children in a range of visual, tactile and sensory experiences, which enable them to communicate what they see, think and feel through the use of the elements of colour, texture, form and pattern. Art and design promotes careful observation and an appreciation of the world around us. Through learning about the roles and functions of art, they can explore the impact it has had on contemporary life and on different periods and cultures. 

The aims of teaching art and design in our school are to:

• engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.
• think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.
• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences.
• become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
• evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design.
• know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

IMPLEMENTATION

Our curriculum is taught using the learning philosophies of De Bono’s Hats and Bloom’s Taxonomy. All pupils thrive in MJS’ inclusive learning community enabling them to engage in inspiring discussions and understand key concepts. To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in art and design, we implement a curriculum that uses an integrated approach of quality, representational art and artists to support our decolonised curriculum which challenges, expands and broadens pupils’ ambitions and address cultural, racial and social disadvantage. Our Art and Design curriculum has been structured in a cross-curricular way to effectively facilitate this and to provide maximum inspiration to our artists and inspires them by providing them with knowledge, experiences and the cultural capital to flourish in society. 

Art projects are linked to a class topic to enhance the pupils’ understanding of the key historical or geographical concepts covered. Where appropriate, Art and Design projects may also be linked to a community or cultural issue to engage our artists in the world around them and to help them understand the role that they play as an individual. Each of our artists has their own sketch book, in which they can record ideas, practise new techniques and to further refine their skills. These sketchbooks give our artists the opportunity to study an existing piece of art, create a constructive and reflective critique of this work and to use these ideas to develop their own piece of related art work, enabling pupils to show perseverance and dedication to complete any project to the best of their ability. Artists form different eras are studied throughout the school to give our artists a balanced knowledge and understanding of Art concepts and skills. School visitors and trips are facilitated where appropriate to enhance the pupils’ understanding and skills further.

The school has adapted the “Kapow” scheme of work, which has progressive activities that are designed to inspire and engage pupils.

IMPACT
Our Art and Design curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. Pupils make good or better progress. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Individual sketch books continued over each year group to show progression, record observations and to review and revisit ideas.
• Sharing good practice with other staff members.
• Through discussions with pupils about their learning.
• Art displays and galleries

Pupils apply their artistic skills to flipped curriculum homework, when outstanding art pieces are produced at home.