Art, Craft and Design
“If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
Vincent Van Gogh
At Stanton Road, we want to inspire children through art, enabling children to develop a sense of interest, creativity and individual expression. We provide children with an understanding of the work of inspirational artists, artworks and artistic movements both past and present–locally, nationally and internationally. Through art at Stanton Road, we investigate the 7 elements of art: line, value, colour, space, shape, form and texture. The curriculum enables our children to develop as artists by developing practical knowledge, theoretical knowledge and disciplinary knowledge of the concept of art itself and by making connections between these 3 bodies of knowledge.
Practical knowledge - This knowledge is necessary for children to make and create art. At Stanton Road, children are taught skills in how to draw, paint, sculpt and use techniques of collage and printmaking. Practical knowledge will allow children to make choices based on what they know about the limits and possibilities of materials and media.
Theoretical knowledge – This knowledge is necessary for children to put their practical knowledge into context and to gain meaning, make interpretations, consider materials and processes used by artists, develop knowledge about journeys in art and to make connections in art through time. At Stanton Road, children are encouraged to understand and make connections with social, cultural and political themes portrayed in some pieces of artwork. Children will learn that artwork has often been a means for an artist or culture to express their feelings, overcome challenges and fight for a cause. Our art curriculum has been designed so that children learn about the tools, methods and materials used by an artist and are able to link the artist’s methods and materials to their own practical knowledge and skills. Artists, craft-makers and designers have been carefully selected, to include traditional and contemporary pieces of art, produced in different countries, by artists from diverse communities.
Disciplinary knowledge – This knowledge is necessary to enable children to understand ways that art is judged, valued and evaluated. This knowledge will enable children to interpret and discuss artwork and participate in discussions about big ideas in art. It is important for children to learn disciplinary knowledge because art is not fixed. It is fluid and dynamic. It changes through encounters and exchanges with new technologies, new ways of thinking and new opportunities. When children learn disciplinary knowledge, they explore, among other things, concepts of quality, value and purpose.
Through our high-quality art and design curriculum, knowledge is sequenced, to ensure that children progressively learn, develop and improve skills and ideas as they move through F2, KS1 and KS2. Children will have regular opportunities to work with related content to help them improve in that content in the long term. Each unit of work has a focus artist or stimulus and will involve the following steps:
Explore and evaluate carefully chosen examples of a given stimulus or artist. Background information about the artist, period or statements made through artwork may also form part of this exploration.
Experience and experiment with relevant skills relating to the media.
Use their knowledge to imagine and plan for their own piece of work.
Creatively apply their skills and knowledge to create their ideas, refine and reflect on ideas
Create final piece of artwork, inspired by stimulus, to express their creativity, demonstrate skills acquired, express feelings and convey a personal response, through a range of media.
Classes are encouraged to think creatively about how to display and celebrate their work so that it can be experienced by others.
Children have the opportunity to talk to adults and peers to express their motivation behind creating their pieces of artwork.
Sketchbooks will be used throughout units of work, for children to capture ideas, practise skills and express themselves creatively. Post it note comments and questions may added to sketchbooks by adults or peers when appropriate. Learning will also be recorded through photography and final pieces, which demonstrate skills and knowledge. Children work both independently and collaboratively on art projects, planning, exploring ideas and techniques, creating and refining their ideas. By studying Art, pupils will develop a range of vocabulary, to be able to articulate their intentions and achievements using appropriate subject specific terminology.
Teachers assess children’s learning throughout each lesson to ensure understanding of skills and knowledge before building onto future learning. In addition, children will also complete final pieces of artwork to showcase their understanding of skills, knowledge and vocabulary throughout each unit.
Curriculum Champions
The Art curriculum champions will conduct regular evaluations of our Art Curriculum, which include lesson drop ins, pupil panels and book looks to measure the impact of our teaching, by assessing whether our children know more and can remember more.