You can’t use up creativity. The more that you use, the more you have.
- Maya Angelou
Intent
At St Michael’s, we want to ensure that all pupils reach their creative potential by being involved in a wide range of artistic experiences and exploring art within the world around them. Through art, craft and design, we aim to engage, challenge and inspire our pupils, by introducing them to a wide range of artists, craftspeople and designers.
Art is absolutely vital in giving children a voice and allowing them to find their place in the world by giving them a positive outlet for their ideas, emotions and opinions. We want to allow them to explore their own identity alongside nurturing curiosity and respecting and connecting with others.
Implementation
The foundation of our art and design curriculum is taken directly from the Early Learning Goals and the National Curriculum. With the exception of EYFS, all of our pupils use sketchbooks to document their creative journey, where they record, explore and share their ideas.
Our progression of skills from EYFS through to Key Stage 2 supports our curriculum further by showing how drawing, painting, 3D form, collage and printing are developed over time. The foundations of our curriculum will always be rooted within our knowledge and skills progression document, but we do make links with other areas of the curriculum, where appropriate, in a meaningful and enriching way.
In our art and design lessons, we introduce and explore a wide range of techniques and materials, alongside learning about artists, craftspeople and designers from around the world and throughout history.
Impact
Evidence is collected across school visually. Art is a unique subject, where progression isn’t linear. Each art-based project has key knowledge and skills which are taught, and then layered with revisiting prior learning and experimentation with new ideas. Assessment is done holistically, taking into account each individual’s creative growth. We aim to involve pupils in the assessment process, looking for evidence in their work or within their discussions, to teach children to become independent artists. This is something done ‘with’ the child, rather than ‘to’ the child.