Art and Design

At Newbold Church School Art and Design is an important part of the children's entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum.  It is our wish through the implementation of our art curriculum that pupils will have the opportunity to experience the power of creativity as part of a rich and progressive curriculum where art lessons are sequenced to build on previous learning and secure new learning successfully. 

Intent:

We want to inspire and challenge children, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to participate in, experiment with, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. We want children to be inspired by a wide range of artists, crafts people and designers, confidently critique their work and use it to influence their own decision making process. Through studying a diverse range of artists pupils will learn how art and design both reflect and shape our history and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation. We want children to be able to express themselves through different media and feel empowered to think creatively. We intend to make all learning meaningful and memorable .

Implementation:

Our curriculum offers children frequent opportunities to develop their practical skills using a wide range of media at their own pace. We know that progression is not linear so all work is valued and recorded and not marked. However, to encourage children’s progress and creativity, we observe children while they work and capture moments where they evaluate effectively, use the language of art and design, collaborate well and make creative decisions. 

In each unit of work the children draw and create using a range of media, whilst exploring the work of an artist, crafts person, or designer. They choose which of their existing skills they wish to practise before being taught new skills to add to their ‘tool kit’.  We also teach shorter or one-off skills lessons and give the children opportunities to free draw in their sketchbooks, valuing their ideas and allowing them time to just enjoy drawing. Work in sketchbooks documents each child’s unique progress and learning journey that year. 

Children are encouraged to move their learning forward by reflecting on their own work. Self-evaluation is taught throughout each unit and is supported by peer and teacher led critiques.  

Our planning is based on the 'Kapow' Art resource (see below for more information), and adapted where necessary to meet the needs of the children in our school.  Each block of teaching gives opportunities to 

--- Generate Ideas

--- Consider formal elements

--- Develop making skills

--- Increase knowledge of artists work and techniques

--- Evaluate work

Kapow Primary’s Art and design content features a formal elements and skills topic within each year group.

The formal elements topics focus on teaching the discreet skills of the formal elements of art which are:

• line
• shape
• tone
• texture
• pattern
• colour

The skills topics again, focus on specifically developing pupils’ art, craft and design skills.

The knowledge and skills from these two topic areas are then applied throughout the rest of the scheme within the other topics areas.

Impact:

How is the art and design scheme organised?

The benefits of a spiral curriculum

Long Term Overview

Progression document

Click here to find out more about progression of skills, knowledge and vocabulary in Art at Newbold Church School. 

Knowing more and remembering more (knowledge organisers)

Click below to see Knowledge organisers for each of the year group themes in Art and Design. 

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Art and Design in the Early Years

Expressive Arts and Design (EAD)

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, EAD is broken down into two aspects:

• Creating with materials
• Being imaginative and expressive 

Early learning goals 

Creating with Materials

Children at the expected level of development will:

• Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function;
• Share their creations, explaining the process they have used;
• Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.

Being Imaginative and Expressive

Children at the expected level of development will:

• Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher;
• Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs; Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate – try to move in time with music

Creativity

Creativity plays a significant role in thinking and understanding across all seven areas of learning. If children’s thoughts and feelings are sought and valued and they are encouraged to decide for themselves how best to represent their ideas, explore possibilities, make new connections and solve problems, they are developing the skills for life-long learning and confidence in themselves, both as thinkers and as learners. The characteristics of effective learning are essential in supporting learning and development in Expressive Arts and Design, empowering children to see themselves as capable, competent and creative learners. 

To be creative and explore, children need to feel emotionally secure so that they have the confidence to take risks. We support our children by encouraging them to explore and experience a broad, rich range of materials, media, music, stories, technology and design.

what expressive arts means for our children

Developing this area of learning enables children to:

• experiment with inspiring and accessible media and tools
• have the freedom to make a mess and mix materials
• have space to create individually and collaboratively
• have places for display/labelling or opportunities for taking work home 
• have opportunities to make choices
• have the right help at the right time; ensure children are given sensitive and appropriate help when they ask or are struggling
• be supported to develop mastery in a range of skills, techniques and safety rules
• have the vocabulary of feelings and opportunities to take part in activities that allow them to express their own feelings and emotions
• have opportunities to talk about and evaluate their own achievements.

 Nursery 

Nursery have the opportunity to mark make inside and outside – with a variety of tools on a very large scale.  

Nursery use loose parts to create transient art. Transient art or loose parts play is the creative experience of placing open- ended resources together on a surface. As part of transient art or loose parts play children will explore shape, space, pattern, positioning, colour, texture and overlapping

Nursery explore sensory, messy play using large rollers, finger painting, sensory paints (mixed with sand/porridge etc) large scale printing for example using thick handled brushes, hands/fingers, with objects, stamps  and vehicles.

Nursery use smaller finger movements, they are beginning to develop and use the pincer grip for emergent drawing. Nursery use a variety of tools for example,  knifes and dough cutters in the playdough area.
Nursery explore role  play and blocks play, they add small world vehicles, people or animals to build for purpose. 

Nursery use  scissors and glue  to create a collage or junk model using: paper plates straws, lolly sticks, big and small paper.  

Supporting Children with SEND to access all of the Art sessions

All Art sessions are planned to ensure that all children are able to access all elements. Specific adaptations are used to ensure all children can operate any resources they need. For example, we use a variety of different sized paint brushes to enable children to access painting skills, and different forms of information, such as film and description, when children are researching famous artists. 

As with all other areas of the curriculum, we use SEND codes to show how we will adapt our teaching to ensure all children are fully supported. This may include reducing any writing aspect of the sessions to enable all children  to fully participate.

Where children need 1-1 support with a TA to be able to fully engage in the Art sessions, this will be provided. 

As part of our monitoring processes we ensure that children with SEND are able to fully access all aspects of the Art curriculum. 

Pupil Premium Children

As part of our monitoring processes we ensure that children in the receipt of Pupil Premium are able to fully access all aspects of the Art curriculum. 

Click here to see the NCS Policy for Art

Useful Websites

Last Updated August 2023