At Newborough C of E Primary School, we value Art and Design as a subject to inspire and develop our children’s creative thinking and to develop their cultural, spiritual and moral understanding. We believe that teaching and learning in Art and Design is important because it stimulates creativity, imagination and inventiveness.

We encourage all our children at Newborough to express their thoughts and emotions in a safe and appropriate way. It is embedded in everything we do and Art and Design is a fantastic medium, which can support and empower our children to do this. We teach our children to be reflective of their work and respectful of others. Our School Mission Statement, ‘Life in all its fullness’, creates a safe space for our children to explore, experiment and take risks without the fear of getting it wrong which is the basic essence of what art is and can offer our children the opportunity to express responses to ideas and experiences in a visual or tactile form. Art and Design fires their imagination and is a fundamental means of personal expression.

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

• experience a range of different techniques and mediums
• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences 
• develop skills and techniques in drawing, painting, sculpture and printing
• 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

Our Art and Design curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work and digital art and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. Our children are introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists. Art and Design enables children to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes.

Our children should be clear what the intended outcomes are and have a means to measure their own work against this. In Art and Design, the children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can make changes and keep improving. This should be meaningful and continuous throughout the process, with evidence of age-related verbal and written refection. Our children are encouraged to take risks and experiment and then reflect on why some ideas and techniques are successful or not for a particular project.

Teaching and learning time is managed effectively to allow children to work on sustained pieces of work. Each year group will participate in one Art and Design project per term. Art is not taught in isolation. Cross curricular links are made were possible, although the art curriculum retains a strong focus on skills and techniques, giving children the opportunities to develop specific art skills and clear progression. These are documented on a long-term curriculum map.

Key Stage 1:

Pupils are taught:

• to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products 
• to use drawing, painting, sculpture and printing to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination 
• to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space 
• about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and eras, and making links to their own work 

Key Stage 2:

Pupils are taught:

• to develop their techniques (including their control and their use of materials) with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design
• to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
• to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting, sculpture and printing with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay]
• about great artists, architects and designers in history 

Pupil Quotes

"Art day was amazing because we got to learn about lots of different artists and learn new skills!"

"I love art because it is fun and we get to learn different techniques and use different materials."

"I really enjoy using my hands and modelling. We get to be really creative in art and use our own ideas."