Spring Meadow Infant and Nursery
Art Curriculum
Intent
At Spring Meadow Infant and Nursery School we understand that art contributes to the children’s life skills, experience and mental well-being. Our school’s values of kind, independent, inclusive, creative and knowledgeable are carefully integrated into our art sessions where our approaches focus on engaging, inspiring and challenging all pupils. We aim to provide the children with the knowledge and skills they need to explore, use their imagination and be creative to produce unique works of art both indoors and out, the messier, the better! Art has the power to develop a child’s sense of enjoyment and interest in the arts that may open up opportunities for them in the future. We believe that the teaching of art will always be inclusive, providing an opportunity for all children to be successful and to participate in a subject with no limitations, boosting self-confidence and self-esteem. It is also our belief that it will support our pupil’s emotional health and wellbeing allowing them the freedom to express themselves independently and show pride in their own work. We aim to give children the opportunity to appreciate and experience a range of different artists, including Van Gogh, Kandinsky, Matisse, Hockney, learn the history of their work and use the artist’s style to influence their own creations as well as evaluating what they see with respect and kindness. We feel it is important that children know how art reflects our history, and contributes to the culture, creativity and the wealth of our nation and the wider world.
Implementation
In the Early Years a bespoke curriculum is followed using Development Matters which provides the children with a range of art activities that allow them to explore creatively to develop knowledge and skills in drawing, painting, collage and sculpture linked to their needs, interests and prior experiences. This provides a foundation of creative art knowledge and skills for future learning in KS1. Art in KS1 is taught using the Primary Knowledge Curriculum every half term with key knowledge and skills revisited and developed from the previous year group. Teachers use the PKC’s plan of sequenced lessons that build on and develop the children’s knowledge and skills to create their own pieces of art. The key concepts that will be taught as part of the Primary Knowledge Curriculum are colour, line, style, shape, texture, pattern and symmetry. The emphasis on knowledge ensures that children understand the context of the artwork, as well as the artists that they are learning about and being inspired by. The art curriculum enables links to other curriculum areas, such as shape and pattern in maths, where works of art can provide historical contexts and sources of information about the past and in geography where works of art focus on landscapes. In addition links will be made to the local area during units on architecture and city and rural landscapes. A similar focus on skills means that children are given opportunities to express their creative imagination, as well as practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting and sculpture.
Impact
The key knowledge, skills and language are revisited throughout children’s learning using mini plenaries, key assessment questioning and recaps to allow teachers to be responsive to the children’s learning. In key stage one at the end of a unit of work, our children’s accumulated Art knowledge is assessed which may take the form of quizzes linked to the core knowledge and vocabulary alongside teachers’ formative assessment of the skills seen in each lesson to make a judgement as to whether each child is working towards, at or above the expected level. In Early years staff gather ongoing assessment information through observations and interactions in the provision to make an end of term judgement for expressive arts and design. The art subject leader monitors the teaching and learning of art throughout the year through learning walks, outcome scrutiny and discussions with children from across the school to find out what they enjoy and know about in art. This evaluation of the teaching and learning of art within the school informs them of next steps to be taken in further raising standards in art. Our children leave our school confident in their knowledge of many aspects of art, as well as acquiring good skills in drawing, painting, sculpture. The knowledge, skills and language they have learnt will prepare them for the content of the Key Stage 2 art curriculum. We want our children to be inspired by amazing artists and their works of art so they may be inspired to create amazing art themselves, now and in the future.
