“Art is not just a subject you learn, but an activity that you can practise with your hands, your eyes, your whole personality”. - Quentin Blake, Children’s Laureate

Art refers to a diverse range of human expression and is the outcomes of such activities. Art can be further defined as visual art and includes painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and work made using digital media.

Art statement of intent

Intent - The ambitions of our curriculum

At Skinners’ Kent Primary School we believe that Art and Design stimulates creativity and imagination. It provides visual, tactile and sensory experiences, enabling children of all abilities to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of expression, colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. Learning in Art and Design should encourage independence, self-expression and passion. It should immerse children in the world and work of inspiring artists, designers and architects. Also, it should allow children to become involved in shaping and impacting on their environment.

At Skinners’ Kent Primary School, we take on an inquiry-led approach which develops the children’s ability to ask inquisitive questions that lead to deepening knowledge and growing a thirst for future learning. Inquiry-led learning also enables the children to develop an understanding of how learning in different subjects is interwoven as they are taught how to make their own links to other curriculum areas. There is a natural link between the study of famous artists and History, where children can develop a considerable knowledge of the lives of individual artists, their individual works and their place within art movements.

We want our children to produce work that explores their ideas and records their experiences. We want them to become proficient in a range of skills such as drawing, painting, sculpture and other art and design techniques. We want our children to appreciate and understand the importance of art, learning about great artists, craft makers and designers, and to have an understanding of historical and cultural impact of art. 

Intent – The design of our curriculum

The school’s high-quality Art and Design curriculum framework develops skills and knowledge progressively as the children rise through the school. The skills and knowledge are mapped out by topic and year group, ensuring coherent progression within each school year, and coherent progression as the children move through school.  The emphasis on knowledge ensures that children will understand the context of artwork, the artists they are learning about, and the media and techniques used by the artists in creating a piece of art. The emphasis on skills allows the children to become increasingly adept at using techniques and media to create their intended effects when making art of their own.

Skills development includes:

• Developing increasing confidence and aptitude in the use of visual and tactile elements and materials
• Developing increasing confidence and aptitude in use a wide range of tools in creating art.
• Developing increasing confidence and aptitude in using a wide range of media and techniques.
• Expressing and developing an increasing level of creativity and imagination.
• Making and communicating increasingly informed aesthetic and practical decisions and evaluations.

Knowledge development includes:

• Knowledge of significant artists and significant pieces of art they have produced
• Knowledge of the media and techniques used by other Artists
• The language of visual art that allows appreciation and evaluation of pieces of art
• Knowledge of the different media that they can choose from
• Knowledge of the different techniques that they can choose to use
• Knowledge of the different tools that they can choose to use.

Implementation

Enthusiastic, creative and inspiring teaching brings the Art and Design curriculum framework to life. Teachers use the curriculum framework to plan lessons, taking into account any relevant assessment information to ensure that all children are challenged appropriately.

Through teachers’ skilful lesson design within well planned sequences of learning, children are given every opportunity to express their creative imagination, as well as to practice and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, printing, painting, textiles and sculpture. Within the sequences of lessons Teachers are developing the appropriate knowledge and an understanding of the language of visual art. They are giving children regular opportunities to recall and rehearse that knowledge. Sketchbooks are used by the pupils to capture their learning and questions, to rehearse skills and techniques and to plan for their own pieces of art.

Teachers plan intentional opportunities for the children to raise questions, explore thoughts, and to be creative as part of our approach to Inquiry-led learning. Where children develop inquiry questions incidentally through a topic, teachers encourage the pupils to explore their questions whilst ensuring that the planned curriculum is being enhanced by that exploration.

Our Art and Design curriculum will lead pupils to be enthusiastic Art and Design learners, evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice, their final pieces and sketchbooks. We ensure that children who are achieving well, as well as those who need additional support, are identified, and additional provision and strategies are planned in and discussed with class teachers. Achievements are celebrated throughout the school which can be seen in classrooms and on corridor displays.

Coordinated whole-school project work ensures that art is given a high status in the curriculum. This includes the yearly ‘Arts Week’ which enables further focus on children’s creative, design and artists skills. It enables pupils to come together as a school to share and express their creativity.

Impact

Because our Art Curriculum is high quality, organised coherently, and is planned to demonstrate and build upon progression it enables children to be imaginative, creative, independent and self-expressive. The knowledge and skills outcomes are visible through:

• The sketchbooks: demonstrating progression in skills and techniques; increasing sophistication in reflecting and evaluations of their own artwork; and increasing complexity in the understanding of how to create visual impact on other people.
  
  Sketchbooks are highly personal and unique. They demonstrate the learning journey of the individual pupil.
   
• Pupil discussion: the pupils will show increasingly precise language in line with the vocabulary progression; pupils will be appropriately sophisticated in their ability to communicate their thoughts and feelings about their own artwork and the artwork of artists who have provided them inspiration.

We know teaching has been effective when pupils are able to:

• Produce creative work, exploring and recording their ideas and experiences
• Be proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art and design techniques
• Evaluate and analyse creative work, using subject specific language
• Know about great artist and the historical and cultural development
• Meet end of the key stage expectations outlines in the National curriculum for art and design.

Teachers assess the pupils’ developing skills and application of those skills within individual lessons, providing feedback that supports the pupils to improve their mastery of the taught skills and techniques. ‘In the moment’ assessment is used by teachers to inform their planning and teaching.

The use of sketchbooks is reviewed periodically. This review is used to check that sketchbooks continue to be used effectively, to identify best practice, and to moderate judgements about the effectiveness of the curriculum in enabling the planned progression. This process includes conversations with class teachers to evaluate practice with clear contextual information.

Pupil outcomes (through final pieces of artwork, sketchbook reviews, and pupil conversations) are evaluated throughout the year, with information being used by teachers to support their own professional development needs and by leaders to evaluate any emerging training needs. They are also used to identify pupils whose learning has demonstrated an appropriate level of skill and recall of knowledge.

As a result of effective implementation, pupils leave Skinners Kent Primary school with the knowledge, skills and the confidence to form a strong foundation for their and Art and design learning at Key stage 3 and beyond.

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works”

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple inc.

Design and technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Using creativity and imagination where pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others' needs, wants and values.

At Skinners' Kent Primary School we aim to deliver an inquiry based, high quality Design and Technology curriculum. We believe that inquiry-based learning is purposeful, powerful and authentic. We aim to trigger pupils' curiosity and love for learning by posing questions, problems and scenarios. It is a process of construction and building on prior knowledge that is centred around the pupil and their desire to learn and create. 

Over the past year, we have redesigned our curriculum, and Design and Technology is taught alongside Art and Design. Throughout the 2 cycles, we cover a range of art and design technology topics and objectives. This empowers children to develop their knowledge and skills which seamlessly weave together. We believe that the artistic skills needed within art and design, are crucial within the design and making process seen within Design and Technology.

We aim to inspire creativity in our pupils; we want them to question why things happen and the way things work. We want our pupils to use their imaginations and ideas, enabling them to develop their creativity further. We want pupils to be problem solvers through the practical application of scientific and mathematical principles. Enabling them to develop the creative and technical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to meet the design and technology challenges of today and the future.

Design and Technology are an inspiring, complex and practical subject. They acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. At Skinners' Kent Primary School our pupils learn to take risks, becoming resourceful and innovative. All Design and Technology should follow the design, make and evaluate cycle. Each stage being just as important. The design process should give meaning to the learning and be reflective of the designer. While making, pupils should be given the freedom to use a range of tools and techniques to create their chosen design. To evaluate, pupils should be able to evaluate their own ideas throughout the design and making process but to also evaluate final outcomes. Being able to be critical but positive. With the combination of these steps, pupils will be able to design and make products that they can become proud of.

At Skinners' Kent Primary School our Design Technology curriculum has been designed to meet the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum. With our planning structure aiming to promote continuity and progression through inspiring projects and unique sketchbooks, which enable pupils to:

• develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.
• gain an understand of how significant designers have brought about change and the influence they have had.
• build and apply a bank of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users.
• critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others.
• understand and apply the key principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.

Subject content Key stage 1

When designing and making, pupils will be taught to:

Design

• design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria.
• generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mock-ups and, where appropriate, information and communication technology.
• Children use their understanding of significant people in a given area to aid their own designs.

Make

• select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing].
• select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics.

Evaluate

• explore and evaluate a range of existing products and the work of significant designers.
• evaluate their ideas and products against design criteria.

Technical knowledge

• build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable.
• explore and use mechanisms [for example, levers, sliders, wheels and axles], in their products.

Cooking and nutrition

• use the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet to prepare dishes.
• understand where food comes from.

Subject Content Key stage 2

When designing and making, pupils will be taught to:

Design

• use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups.
• generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design.
• children will draw on design concepts used by significant designers to aid their own designs.

Make

• select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately.
• select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities.

Evaluate

• investigate and analyse a range of existing products.
• evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work.
• understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world.

Technical knowledge

• apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures.
• understand and use mechanical systems in their products [for example, gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages].
• understand and use electrical systems in their products [for example, series circuits incorporating switches, bulbs, buzzers and motors].
• apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products.

Cooking and nutrition

• understand and apply the principles of a healthy and varied diet 
• prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques.
• understand seasonality, and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.