Curriculum
Art and design
Curriculum intent, implementation, and impact
Intent
At Wrekin View, we believe that art and design is a vital part of a pupil’s education. Our art and design curriculum develops creativity, sets challenges, engages pupils, and equips them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft, and design. Art contributes to pupils’ personal development in creativity, independence, judgement, and self-reflection. The curriculum we provide is rich in skills and knowledge. Pupils will develop their understanding of the visual language of art with effective teaching and carefully planned sequences of lessons and experiences. Understanding the visual elements of art and design such as tone, texture, colour, and pattern will be developed by providing an accessible, engaging curriculum will enable pupils to achieve their full potential. Through our curriculum, we aim to provide pupils with an experience that is exciting and to ensure that they combine practical skills with creative thinking, developing highly valuable and transferrable skills for future careers and life. As pupils progress, they will be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity, and wealth of our nation.
Aims:
The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:
- Develop proficiency in drawing, painting, understanding colour and shade and sculpture
- Develop their understanding of the visual language of art with effective teaching and carefully thought-out sequences of lessons and experiences
- Develop their appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage within the academy and local community through studying a diverse range of male and female artists and designers throughout history
- Recognise where improvements and developments can be made, wherever possible making these to evolve their work
Implementation
The teaching and implementation of the art and design curriculum at Wrekin View is based on the national curriculum and it is focused on developing skills as well as creativity and imagination through a range of well-planned activities. To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in art and design, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Every year group will cover the main 3 strands of art and design curriculum, drawing, painting, and sculpture, building on prior knowledge and skills as children move through school. At Wrekin View, pupils are taught art and design in every year group, once per week during either the first or second half of each term.
Each pupil has a sketchbook where they can practice new skills, experiment, plan and create their own pieces of art. This sketchbook will travel with pupils throughout their whole primary journey, allowing them to take ownership and see their own progress in art. At the end of each unit pupils have the opportunity to show and evaluate their own artwork. Our pupils are very proud to display their artwork on the classroom and whole academy displays.
At Wrekin View, pupils are introduced to various current and historical international artists, craft makers and designers to learn from other cultures and respect diversity.
At our academy the art curriculum is supported through the availability of a wide range of quality resources, which are used to support pupil’s confidence in use of different media. Art club provides further opportunity outside the classroom for children to explore their unique creativity. Academy staff are equally supported to develop their own expertise in teaching the subject through staff meetings and support from the subject lead.
Impact
The art curriculum at Wrekin View is high quality and is planned to demonstrate progression. Art and design monitoring takes many forms due to the nature of this curriculum area. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the exploration and creation of a final piece of art for each unit recorded in sketchbooks, pupil voice, self and peer evaluation and the ability to apply the learnt skills in other areas of the curriculum. This allows pupils and teachers to reflect on the standards that have been achieved against the planned outcomes.
Art and design at Wrekin View aims to enrich learning and enable pupils to communicate their thoughts, ideas and observations in a practical and expressive way.
