Art

At Georgeham CofE Primary School, we value art as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Our intent is to provide children with the confidence, knowledge, and skills to express their individual interests, thoughts, and ideas. Art plays an important role in our children’s mental well-being and is therefore taught regularly throughout the year.

We use the Ventrus Knowledge Entitlement and Access Art to inform our planning and teaching of art. Art is linked, where appropriate, to topics, allowing children to make genuine connections with the knowledge they have gained, enabling them to produce meaningful products. Our children are taught to explore and evaluate different creative concepts while being artists themselves.

By focusing on specific local, national, and international artists, children learn to be proficient in design, drawing, painting, and sculpture. They are taught to be reflective and evaluate their own and others' work verbally and in writing. As artists, children are encouraged to take risks within their work, developing their resilience and independence.

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in art, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school:

• Art is taught each term, focusing on knowledge and skills.
• Purposeful links are made, where appropriate, to current topics so that products produced are meaningful.
• Art is taught in whole class groups followed by group and individual work.
• New techniques and skills are modelled, and examples of work are shown to the children.
• New and relevant vocabulary is introduced progressively.
• The evidence of children's artwork is collected in their art sketchbooks, which follow the children through the school.
• Sketchbooks contain experimentation, photographs, and reflections, showing ideas and development.
• Photographs of final pieces, larger group or 3D pieces are also kept in the art sketchbooks.
• Children are assessed at the end of a unit of work.

Our art curriculum is high quality, with a progressive skills focus. As a result, children develop a strong, well-rounded skill set that allows them to design and create high-quality products. These products are meaningful to the children, demonstrate age-appropriate skills, and show their individual creativity. Pupils’ sketchbooks demonstrate that control and technique with media such as pencil, pastel, and paint improve significantly through their time at Georgeham CofE Primary School.