Art

Subject Lead: Mrs E Cartwright

INTENT

At Arden Primary School, we believe that creativity is an essential and universal trait that every child deserves to explore and develop. Our Art curriculum is designed to ignite excitement and foster a lifelong appreciation for art and design. We aim to provide an enriching experience that combines practical skills with creative thinking, ensuring our pupils are well-prepared for their secondary education and future careers.

Through our Art curriculum, we empower children to make personal and creative choices in their work. We offer opportunities for new experiences and personal exploration, balanced with the time needed for mastering technical skills and deepening contextual knowledge. Our approach encourages pupils to express their individual interests, thoughts, and ideas through various artistic media.

At Arden, we believe that art is not just about creating; it is also about understanding. Our curriculum helps children gain a deeper appreciation of how art reflects and shapes history and culture, both locally and globally. By learning to interpret and create art, our pupils develop critical thinking skills and learn to convey important messages, such as those related to environmental issues like climate change.

We strive to make art a medium through which children can explore and celebrate diversity, using the local area and global cultures as sources of inspiration. Our goal is to equip our children with not only the fundamental skills outlined in the Art and Design National Curriculum but also to prepare them for the broader opportunities, responsibilities, and experiences of life. At Arden Primary School, we nurture the potential of every child to become confident, imaginative, and culturally aware individuals.

Early Years

Communication and expression are the ways children share their responses to what they see, hear and experience. Creative expression supports children’s emotional wellbeing and reduces anxiety. It’s how children represent themselves, their thoughts and feelings as they develop their ideas.

Self-expression is children’s way of showing what they understand and know, and children learn to develop their self-expression through Art in the EYFS at Arden through exploring:

materials
painting
sculpting
singing
dancing
roleplaying
We know that through Expressive Arts and Design during their time in the EYFS, the foundations are laid for future success in, and engagement with, Art and Design in Key Stage One and beyond. 

Years 1 - 6

At Arden, we deliver a rich and engaging Art and Design curriculum experience that is progressive. We ensure that all pupils repeatedly build upon their knowledge and skills.  As pupils transition to the National Curriculum in Years 1 - 6, Art and Design is taught across a full term: and every child is gifted their own watercolour palette, which they use across the whole curriculum. Leaders and teachers ensure that there is a rigorous focus on the knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum, and that this knowledge builds progressively - enabling pupils to develop their artistic skills systematically. Pupils develop their knowledge of the seven key elements of line, shape, space, value, form, texture, and colour through repeated encounter, and are encouraged to develop their creativity and mastery of techniques through continuous practice and exploration. 

Our use of sketchbooks alongside project books underpins this process, allowing pupils to experiment with different materials, record ideas, and form opinions. Systematic skill development occurs across a variety of media, including drawing, painting, printing, collage, sculpture, textiles and CAD Design. We introduce pupils to a wide range of works by artists, craftspeople, architects, and designers, fostering an appreciation for various styles and encouraging thoughtful discussions about art. This helps pupils articulate their responses to art and use these reflections to inspire their own creations. Pupils learn about significant artists and their cultural contexts, and how art can provoke discussion and convey powerful messages.

We scrutinise the efficiency of our teaching approach and its impact on pupils' self-expression, artistic skills, and analytical abilities through:

  • Unseen final source analysis
  • Reviews of student project books and sketchbooks
  • Termly teacher assessments
  • Performance data
  • Subject leader monitoring
  • Gallery walks
  • Lesson observations
  • Lesson drop-ins
  • Weekly 'Friday Flicks'
  • Art and Design Subject Study Days
  • Pupil Voice
  • School Improvement Team liaison
  • Governor visits
  • Art and Design 'One Voice' documentation
ART AND DESIGN PROGRESSION DOCUMENT