Art and Design Subject Lead - Miss Walsh
Why I am passionate about Art and Design ...
Hello, I am Miss Walsh and I am the subject Leader for Art and Design at St James' Catholic Primary School. Growing up, I have always had a great passion for Art and Design and this particularly sparked in my high school years as I went on to pick it for one of my GCSE options. I believe that art is an important factor in allowing our children to express themselves and explore their creative minds. One of my favourite Artists is Andy Warhol, who you will find in our Bespoke Curriculum, as I love the bright colours used in his artwork. I love to see children flourish in art, and most of all, enjoy it.
Curriculum Intent
Children at St James' are encouraged to express themselves creatively. They are provided with a wide variety of materials and are taught a range of different techniques. They are taught to be aware of shape, pattern, colour and design in two-dimensional and three-dimensional form. They learn about the work of different artists, both local, past and present and from a variety of different cultures.
Art and design teaching at St James' Catholic Primary School instils an appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts. 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. Children explore ideas and meanings through studying the work of artists and designers. 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.
As pupils progress through school, they should begin to 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.
To produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences.
To become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
To evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design.
To know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
Curriculum Implementation
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in art and design, we implement a bespoke art curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Art and design is taught as part of a half-termly or termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. At St James', we ensure that art and design is given the same importance as the core subjects, as we feel this is important in enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences.
The Art and Design progression document ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills/knowledge taught is progressive from year group to year group.
Art and design provides excellent opportunities to enhance the learning of more able pupils through the investigations, analysing sources and writing extending pieces. Children showing extensive aptitude in art and design will be placed on our schools gifted and talented register. These children will be selected for appropriate enrichment opportunities throughout the year.
At St James' we provide a variety of opportunities for art and design learning inside and outside the classroom.
Educational visits are another opportunity for the teachers to plan for additional art learning outside the classroom. At St James', the children have had many opportunities to experience art and design on educational visits. The children have explored local museums/art galleries and had visitors into school to share art and design learning and have hands on experiences.
Curriculum Impact
Within art and design, we strive to create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing investigative and enquiry based learning opportunities. Emphasis is placed on investigative learning opportunities to help children gain a coherent knowledge of understanding of each unit of work covered throughout the school.
Our art and design curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. We focus on progression of knowledge and skills and discreet vocabulary progression also form part of the units of work. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary.
Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning which is then added to a whole class assessment grid.
Images and videos of the children’s practical learning.
Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
Learning walks and observations where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.
Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.
