Curriculum Statement for Art & Design
Lancaster Lane believes that art is a vital part of children’s education and helps to develop children’s sense of individuality, creativity and to express themselves while working independently or collaboratively. Our high-quality art lessons aim to engage, inspire and challenge our children by focusing on explicit skills and knowledge of a range of artists.
Children will develop their understanding of art with effective teaching and considered sequences of lessons. With modelling and experience of line, tone, texture, colour, pattern, shape and 3D form, children will shine to their true potential with a strong sense of achievement.
Reception
Our Reception pupils focus on art through the ‘Fine Motor Skills’ and ‘Creating with Materials’ Early Learning Goals. This is either through adult led tasks or child-initiated learning. Art skills are developed through continuous provision and the children having access to a variety of media e.g. paint, pastels, chalk, pencils etc. Sketching, observational drawing and fine motor activities, such as collage, are modelled by adults and children are then observed during these activities.
Key Stages 1 & 2
Across the Key Stages, art skills are taught cross curricular (where applicable) while still teaching and modelling explicit skills. We use the Gareth Webb progression of skills which ensures learning progresses well from year group to year group. These skills help to enhance our topics, therefore learning through art, rather than just “about art”.
Some examples of this include:
Key Stage 1
- Create collage when learning about materials in science.
- Colour mixing and painting when studying ‘Our Local Area’ in geography.
- Drawing vehicles when studying transport in history.
Key Stage 2
- Use water colours to paint ‘Flanders Field’ when studying the World Wars.
- Create sculptured mosaics when learning about the Romans.
- Explore digital art when studying favelas in geography.
- Make own dyes when studying plant and textiles.
We also focus on artists, linking these to our topic work whether this be Henri Rousseau to link with Year 5’s work on the Amazon rainforest or Sally Matthews in Year 3 for sculpting dragons which is linked to their English unit. This ensures a focus on the context of the artwork as well as the artists they are concentrating on.
The children’s learning is enhanced with a whole school Book Week where the children have the opportunity for collaborative working and exploring the different art techniques in a cross curricular manner. This work is then showcased in a school exhibition open to all classes and parents. Craft making workshops, e.g. Mother’s Day craft evening, are held through the year to provide opportunities to be creative with access to lots of resources.
At Lancaster Lane, we have positive relationships with the local secondary schools. Children from these schools have visited our pupils with a selection of their pieces to showcase. This gives opportunity to see how art skills continue to extend into further education. ‘Our Local Area’ topics can facilitate the opportunity for many art objectives to be taught. For example, a trip to our local park trust, Cuerden Valley, can allow children to practise their painting, colour mixing, texture and printing skills with an abundance of real-life stimuli to inspire them.
Art is assessed against key skills for each year group. This is through half-termly units throughout the year which incorporate the seven different areas of art- painting, collage, structure, drawing, print, textiles and digital media. The progression of skills is mapped through the children’s sketch books which move through school with the pupils to collate their work so evidence of progression is easily identified. The art subject leader collates these sketch books as well as final pieces of work to ascertain how art is being delivered through school.
Last reviewed March 2023.