Subject Leader: Mrs S Odumala
Aims in teaching Art at King’s Meadow Academy:
We aim:
- To provide a broad and balanced range of art activities.
- To show children’s progress of art skills through the work produced.
- To provide a varied arts curriculum, including experiences from other cultures and traditions.
- To raise and develop children’s self esteem through class and group activities and individual work.
- To give children the opportunity to work with other professionals from the arts community.
- To raise standards in Art so that every child makes best progress.
- To value and celebrate diversity in Art.
- To ensure equal opportunity – all children are provided with equal access to the Art curriculum. We aim to provide suitable learning opportunities regardless of gender, ethnicity or home background.
How is the content / theme chosen?
Whenever possible, we teach through a themed approach, to enable children to embed learning and make connections, which leads to a greater depth of understanding within the subject. The content is therefore chosen to make effective links with key themes, reflect expectations in the National Curriculum programmes of study and Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework and engage and inspire our children. The content may also be chosen based upon the needs or interests of specific cohorts or links to events which are taking place in the community or wider world .
How do we ensure progression of knowledge and skills?
At King’s Meadow Academy we have in place for Art a comprehensive knowledge and skills progression document, which is used for planning, to ensure sequenced and appropriate content for specific year groups, as well as a build up of knowledge and skills.
Within these documents there are also opportunities for differentiation, in order to meet the needs of all learner.
How is the subject taught?
A two year, long term rolling programme maps out the coverage of the discrete teaching and learning opportunities for children to use and explore different media. For example, during one year children may explore working with paint, clay, textiles and sculpture and the following year they may develop skills in drawing, printing and collage. This provides them with a wide range of discrete art experiences during their time in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
Within each discrete block of art teaching, class teachers carefully plan the specific outcomes for their year group, based upon age appropriate knowledge and skills, as well as the needs of the cohort or individuals within it.
Our teaching and learning opportunities ensure all children are introduced to and reminded of key vocabulary. Questioning and assessments of skills are used to check their understanding and prior knowledge, before new concepts or skills are introduced.
Modelling is used by class teachers to clarify expectations, children are then given plentiful opportunities to consolidate, build upon and apply basic skills in order to produce a piece of work which showcases what they have learnt.
When children are learning about a subject through a discrete teaching sessions they are explicitly told that today they are going to be ‘artists.’ They are then reminded of the key skills that they will learn, use and develop within that subject.
In art these are
We are learning to:
- talk about colour, shape, pattern, tone and line
- use a variety of tools and materials
- express our own ideas and use our imagination
- talk about the work of others including well known artists
- evaluate our work and say how it might be improved
Art permeates throughout our curriculum and is one of our key subject drivers in developing the ‘World Citizens’ side of our school curriculum. Through studying a range of people from the past and present, who have had an impact on the world of Art, as well as a range of countries and cultures, children learn about and are taught to challenge stereotypes connected to gender, wealth, disability and cultural background. They are educated that differences should be celebrated and are not a barrier to achievement.
Teaching Art in EYFS
Planning and teaching in EYFS is similar to that in Key Stage 1. The children are expected to develop a specific set of skills and knowledge appropriate to their age. This is often beyond the expectations that are set out in the end of year Early Learning Goals, as we prepare them with the skills they need for year 1.
As well as topic work and the discrete teaching of skills and knowledge, children in EYFS are given the opportunity to continually practise and embed their skills through the areas of provision set up in the indoor and outdoor learning environments.
How do we know that our children are making progress?
Ongoing assessments of the children’s knowledge and skills is observed by the class teacher. Misconceptions are addressed and next steps carefully planned. Children’s outcomes are compared to the subject specific skills and knowledge documents. At the end of a block of discrete teaching (or term) subject leaders gather an overview of children’s outcomes in each subject area. This is used to plan appropriate next steps for their future learning, as well as provide an overview of learning within a subject area cross the whole school.