Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement: Art

Intent

At Northbury primary School, Art is valued as an important part of our pupil’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. We believe that high-quality Art lessons will inspire children to think innovatively and develop and extend creative skills and procedural understanding. A high-quality art education should provide children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials and also allow our pupil’s to gain cultural knowledge by being exposed to the styles and vocabulary used by famous historical and modern artists from around the world. Children at Northbury learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work and digital art and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas; think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

We believe that art work must be purposeful, and so the skills our pupil’s acquire are applied to their cross-curricular topics, allowing them to use their art skills to reflect on and explore topics in greater depth; for example, by sketching historical artefacts in detail, researching geographical locations to support their work on landscape painting or using art as a medium to express emotion and thought to enhance their personal, social and emotional development.

Children are encouraged to take risks and experiment in Art whilst engaging in meaningful and continuous reflection. This is evidenced by using age-related verbal and written evaluations.

Implementation

The teaching and implementation of the Art Curriculum at Northbury Primary School is based on the National Curriculum and is taught as part of our half-termly topic work, ensuring a well-structured, cross-curricular approach to this creative subject. Careful planning ensures the pupil’s skills in art progress and are developed in depth as they make their journey from EYFS to KS2. Challenge questions are also given to pupils to apply their learning in a philosophical and open manner. As well as a range of progressive skills and in-depth challenge questions, the work of famous local, national and international artists are explored and trips and visiting experts are arranged to enhance the children's learning experience.

 The children's learning is further enhanced with a whole school arts week where the children have the opportunity for collaborative working and exploring the different styles and techniques of a range of artists in a variety of art forms.

A means to display and celebrate the pupils’ artwork should be available on the half-termly Topic board in classes and in the corridors and halls.

Impact

The school’s supportive ethos and our pupil’s embedded growth mindset; support the children in developing their collaborative and independent skills, as well as empathy and the need to recognise the achievement of others. Pupils can explain their learning and include discussion about their thoughts, ideas, processing and evaluation of work.

Final end of year evaluations are made using the progression of skills document that has been developed in line with the national curriculum. This enables teachers to identify any gaps within the learning and the level in which the child is working. Children in Foundation Stage are assessed within Expressive Arts and Design and their progress is tracked termly by the class teacher. Age related expectation levels are reported to parents at the end of each academic year, via reports.

Through high quality teaching, guidance effective feedback and well-planned lessons, most children will achieve age-related expectations by the end of each academic year. By the end of Key Stage Two, children will leave our school prepared for the next step in their creative education and will harness the basic skills needed to develop a career in the creative sector.