Saint Patrick’s Catholic Primary School

'We arise today, to learn, love and grow through Jesus.’

At saint Patrick’s we aim to create an environment in which each individual has the opportunity to thrive supported by values of Christ firmly built into our everyday foundations. Education, welfare and wellbeing are at the heart of everything we do. Above all else, we want to foster a strong belief in all our children that they can succeed in all they do, no matter what. Working with all school parties, we wish to nurture each child’s potential and foster high aspirations. It is essential that we give them the tool kit needed to achieve their goals regardless of background or starting points.

Intent

The national curriculum for Art and Design aims to ensure that all pupils:

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
• become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
• evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
• know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms

At Saint Patrick's, we believe that, through the study of Art and Design, children are encouraged to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design expressing themselves as individuals in the wonderfully diverse world that we live in. We hope to engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills through a high-quality art and design curriculum. As pupils progress through our school, they are able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design and understand that Art, Craft and Design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity.

Due to the exposure and celebration of a wide range of artists and designers, children at St Patrick’s know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation and the world.

By the end of EYFS, children can safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.  They share their creations, explaining the process they have used.  Children use a range of small tools, including scissors and paintbrushes and begin to show accuracy and care when drawing.

In KS1, children are taught to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products through a series of highly focused topics throughout the year. Children are encouraged to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination through the use of drawing, painting and sculpture. Throughout KS1, children develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space. By learning about the work of a wide range of artists, craft makers and designers, children are able to describe the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and make links to their own work.

In KS2, the learning from EYFS and Key stage 1 are further developed and built upon, as part of a progressive continuum of skills and knowledge across the Art and Design curriculum. Children are taught to develop their techniques in Art and Design, focusing on their control and use of materials, being encouraged to experiment and be creative as well as having an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design from both local artists as well as from the diversely rich world we live in. At St Patrick’s, pupils are taught to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas throughout each art ‘project’. Children are exposed to a wide variety of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay] to improve their mastery of these disciplines. To broaden our children’s experiences (which for the majority of our children are very narrow on entry into school), they are taught about great artists, architects and designers in history and how they have influenced the world that we live in.

Our curriculum for Art and Design, aims to ensure that pupils: 

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
• become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
• evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
• know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

Implementation

The Art and Design curriculum at Saint Patrick’s is organised into four topics per year group. The topics are grouped into strands influenced by the National Curriculum (Drawing, Painting, Sculpture and Landscapes) a strand will be taught across the school at the same time enabling knowledge, skills and resources to be shared and developed as well as monitoring and assessment of the subject to be undertaken. This allows for a clear picture of Art and Design across all year groups.

Our Art and Design curriculum is driven through a wide breadth of topics. These are arranged so that children return to the same skills/concepts repeatedly, gradually building an understanding of them, whilst at the same time developing their knowledge of Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Print and a wealth of Artists both past and present. Our Long term plan details how pupils will be given opportunities to relate topics to previously studied topics to deepen understanding.

Across School, our Art and Design curriculum is taught through a three-stage process we call ‘the creative process’. This process is detailed in the sequence of lessons planned for each Art and Design topic. 

This is taught as follows:

1. Exploring and Developing

In this stage, children are given opportunities to explore and discuss the work of other artists and find out more about them or the artistic period. Children collect ideas/research the topic and showcase this in either individual or whole class theme board/collage. Children then explore initial ideas through drawing and sketching. This should take place even if the children are working in 2D or 3D for their final piece.

2. Investigating and Making

During this stage, children are given the opportunity to develop their ideas further and plan what they want to create. Children are encouraged to try out different techniques and to apply them to materials and processes. They then create their final piece of work – either individually or collaboratively – evaluating and adapting/changing as they go.

3. Evaluating and Developing Work

Children are given time to review what they have achieved, and the work of others, and comment on it saying what they think or feel about it. Children are given opportunities to identify what they might change about their final piece or the process they have been through and what they could do to improve and develop future work

The curriculum learning experiences of our children are enhanced by the wide variety of visits planned. We take full advantage of the art experience available to us both in our local area and wider in the North West with children working alongside local artists as well as visits to art galleries such as the Tate Liverpool and the Walker Art Gallery.  

The teaching of Art and Design focuses on enabling children to experience, appreciate and explore Art in its many different forms and express themselves as individuals using the influence of style and techniques of famous artists and designers. Our principal aim is to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding across all areas of Art and Design.

We believe that children learn best when:

• They are provided with opportunities to record from first-hand experience and from imagination and to select their own ideas to use in their work;

• They are able to develop creativity and imagination through a range of complex activities;

• They are given opportunity to improve their ability to control materials, tools and techniques;

• They are able to increase their critical awareness of the roles and purposes of art and design in different times and cultures;

• They are provided with opportunities to develop increasing confidence in the use of visual and tactile elements and materials;

• They are encouraged to foster an enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts and a knowledge of artists, craftspeople and designers.

• They are provided with opportunities to work both independently and collaboratively to create small and large pieces of art work.

• They are given time to reflect upon their work and the work of others both as a final art piece or as they learn new techniques and experiment with these in their sketch books

• The children reflect on their own learning by being given opportunities to create visual prompts enabling them to recall how they learned new knowledge or skills/techniques whilst at the same time experiencing new artists and designers, as well as creating opportunities to identify links and relate other curriculum areas together.

We recognise that we have children of differing abilities in Art and Design and we seek to provide suitable learning opportunities by matching the challenge of the task to the child’s ability in this particular subject area. We achieve this by:

• Setting open-ended tasks which can have a variety of responses.
• Grouping children by ability and setting different tasks for each ability group.
• Providing resources of different complexity (including a wide variety of media) depending on the ability of the child.
• Using Teaching Assistants to support children individually or in groups.
• Organising children in such a way that they receive support from their peers.
• Providing resources, tools and techniques to support success rather than hinder

Impact

At Saint Patrick’s We believe, the welcoming, respectful environment, enriched in catholic morals and teachings, continues to enhance the educational and pastoral experience of every individual passing through our doors, to ensure that they develop and become well-rounded individuals within the community, with the ambition to reach their potential and succeed.

We recognise the unique needs of each child and support them in developing the whole child. We have a supportive ethos and our approaches support the children in developing both their collaborative and independent skills. The impact of our Art curriculum is measured in the experiences, confidence and competence of our children within the subject. We ensure children receive the experiences they require, both within and beyond the curriculum, to develop their skills and knowledge and become confident artists. By revisiting Art concepts, children will deepen their understanding and be able to identify links and be able to relate different artistic styles together. The progress children make in Art throughout school is outstanding. Children typically enter school at below the expected level for ‘Expressive Art and Design’, but the average percentage of children for the past 3 years achieving Secure or above, at the end of Year 6 is 91%.