Art

Our art and design curriculum inspires and challenges our pupils. The art and design units promote experimentation, invention and creativity. We look at a range of influential artists and designers. This develops pupils’ knowledge and skills. We develop lifelong artists through our key drivers:

  • Using sketch books to reflect on and adapt designs
  • Broadening thoughts and opinions of artistic interpretation
  • Using different mediums to convey texture, line, shape and tone.

Pupils develop a greater understanding of artistic skills throughout the primary phase.  Art and design explores questions about the impact and effect art can have on different times, cultures and people. Pupils explore the many forms of art and creativity. They explore sculpture, painting and colour mixing, shading techniques and the use of texture and colour for example.

Pupils also learn about influential people who have affected the art and design world. These may be architects, artists or designers. By learning about these people, we aim to inspire pupils. As a result, we encourage pupils to express themselves and understand how art is applied to the real world.

The strands in art are:

  • Responding to art
  • Sculpture and form
  • Painting and colour
  • Drawing, line and tone
  • Printing, pattern and textiles.

EYFS

Within Talk for Writing our Reception children have been studying the story ‘Mr Gumpy’s Outing’ and they used one of the illustrations from the book to create some observational, detailed pencil drawings.

Our Reception children have been looking at dinosaur skeletons and fossils. They had photos of different dinosaurs skeletons and chose which one they wanted to draw. They were also provided with drawing pencils and their art books in order to feel like true artists. The end results were very impressive.

The children then used salt dough to create their own dinosaur fossils. They used their drawings and copied the sketch onto the dough using little tools that make lines and dots.

Year 1

Year 1 have studied Kenyan artist Sarah Shiundu and have created their own compositions based on one of her pieces. They layered soft pastels to complete the process.

After studying the work of natural artist, Richard Shilling, our Year 1 children created some fantastic natural sculptures of their own.

Primary colour mixing

Year 2

Children in Year 2 have been looking at how they can blend colours by using pastels.

Year 2 have studied artist Kazimir Malevich and have looked at how they can use colour to show difference, inspired by Malevich’s work.

Year 3

Year 3 have recently been learning about The Stone Age. Within this unit of work they studied artist Laura Barbosa and created their very own Stone Age art work inspired by Sarah’s work.

Year 3 studied well-known artist Sam Francis during a unit of work on local coal mining. They used water colours to create a background inspired by Sam Francis and then collected different objects that they could use to print with in order to create a landscape of a local coal mine.

Year 4

Year 4 have been studying artist George Segal, looking at how he creates shape and form.

Year 5

Year 5 have been learning about architecture and drawing lines with rulers. This specific session built on the previous one when we learnt about different graded pencils. We learnt how to draw in ‘proportion’ to another image.

Year 5 completed this unit of artwork by creating some cross-sectional drawings, applying the skills that they have been practising.

Year 6

Year 6 have been looking at the work of Henri Rousseau and have created their own compositions based on his style.