Art and Design

Intent

Here at Foxhills Junior School we value and are dedicated to the teaching of art and design. We see this as a fundamental part of school life and are committed to providing an ‘arts rich curriculum’ for our children. By developing this, we can contribute to the quality of our children’s lives, both within and beyond school. We see art and design as a means to support learning in a range of ways and believe that the skills that are developed in this subject, can be transferred across the curriculum and thus aid learning.

• We believe that high-quality art lessons will inspire children to think innovatively and develop creative procedural understanding.
• As the children progress in their learning, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design.
• We believe that children should know how art and design both reflect and shape our history and contribute to the future and creativity around the world.
• The art curriculum ensures a broad range of artists are studied across the curriculum from a range of genders, socio-economic backgrounds, nationality and races.

Implementation

As a school, and in accordance with the National Curriculum’s expectations, we aim to ensure that all pupils:

• Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences in a sketchbook.
• Become proficient in drawing, painting, collage, textiles, print and sculpture.
• Are reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can make changes and keep improving. This should be meaningful and continuous throughout the process, with evidence of age-related verbal and written refection.
• Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
• Have the opportunity to develop their skills using a range of media and materials.

The art and design curriculum at Foxhills Junior School is progressive. Teachers’ are expected to use the whole school skills progression to plan their lessons accordingly and ensure all skills are covered across the academic year. All art and design learning is incorporated into projects, serving as a leading subject in two projects throughout the year and applied subjects in others.  Teachers should attempt to ensure that all learning is meaningful and has a context that is relevant to the children and the project being covered. The learning is carried out primarily in the classroom, although opportunities are taken to use the outside areas and nature trail, where possible.

Impact

Our art and design curriculum is high quality, well thought-out and is planned to demonstrate progression. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Teachers’ assess children’s final outcomes against ARE/GD statements, using the exemplification examples for further clarification.
• Teachers’ plan in opportunities to practise skills more than once in the academic year.
• Pupil discussions about their learning; which includes discussion of their thoughts, ideas, processing and evaluations of work.