ART AND DESIGN CURRICULUM RATIONALE

‘I can throw my ideas onto a page, it doesn’t have to be a page-there are endless possibilities!’

‘I can express my feelings’

‘You can be really creative, do what you want and it’s fun!’

Art Pupil Voice

Intent: What and why do we teach what we teach?

As part of the Learning Academies Trust, at Hooe Primary Academy , our Art and Design curriculum complements our History and Geography where appropriate, creating a sense of ‘Here and There’ and ‘Then and Now’. This ensures that our pupils have the opportunity to study and learn from the art around them, in their local area, the UK and across the world. Across the curriculum, a variety of tools, models and teaching strategies are carefully considered and implemented to ensure all pupils are able to remember more and deepen their understanding within Art and Design.

At Hooe Primary Academy, we have carefully curated and enhanced our art and design curriculum in line with United Learning to ensure it engages, inspires and challenges pupils to learn and remember more. Within the United Learning curriculum, there are six core principles, which are: entitlement, coherence, mastery, adaptability, representation, education with character.

The United Curriculum for Art provides all children, regardless of their background, with:

• Entitlement - Regardless of their starting point, the curriculum allows pupils to produce creative work, to explore ideas and develop the confidence to excel in a broad range of artistic techniques. All pupils will learn about artists and cultures from across history and across the world.  
• Coherence - Taking the National Curriculum as its starting point, the curriculum is sequenced from Early Years to Key Stage 3 and beyond so that pupils gradually develop and build their practical knowledge, including the formal elements, the use of a range of materials in two and three dimensions, and the techniques required to produce artwork. Theoretical and disciplinary knowledge is sequenced so that pupils build a deeper understanding across key stages.

• Mastery - All pupils will be explicitly taught about the formal elements – colour, form, line, pattern, shape, texture and tone – and other aspects of art knowledge in small steps. Pupils will revisit, develop and apply their skills with increasing technical proficiency.
• Adaptability - Our art curriculum is designed to give teachers flexibility, allowing them to select and adapt resources for their specific context. Schools are encouraged to bring it to life for their pupils by supplementing it with artists from their local area.
• Representation - The Art curriculum provides children with the opportunity to explore historical and contemporary artists and artworks, who represent their own and others’ cultures, values and beliefs. We will explore the context in which the art was produced, and consider the full breadth of human experience and expression through art. 
• Education with Character -We aim to build and maintain pupils’ confidence in their ability as artists to create. The curriculum will develop aspects of character such as resilience, confidence and risk taking. Through the curriculum, pupils are given opportunities to share, reflect and learn about each other’s experiences whilst recognising the things we have in common. 

Implementation | How and when do we teach what we teach?

At Hooe Primary Academy, art is taught from EYFS to Year 6 through our Art and Design curriculum. Our key concepts are: painting, mark making, drawing, printing, sculpture, digital and mixed media. Within these main concepts, we have our mini concepts which are woven throughout our curriculum, which are: colour, tone, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space. This ensures there is a clear progression of practical, theoretical and disciplinary knowledge from EYFS to Year 6.

Across Hooe Primary Academy, a variety of tools, models and methods are used to scaffold pupils’ learning to enable pupils to remember more and deepen their understanding. This may include and are not limited to: live modelling, questioning, retrieval practice, knowledge organisers, graphic organisers and modified or specialist tools. It is essential that all pupils receive an ambitious and challenging art curriculum from when pupils join us in EYFS to when they leave us in Year 6, ready for Key Stage Three.

In EYFS, art is taught through the ‘expressive arts and design’ aspect of the Early Years Statutory Framework. Pupils will explore, use and refine a variety of artistic effects to express their ideas and feelings. They will develop their mark making, painting, drawing, printing and sculpture skills using a variety of different materials and tools. They will also work collaboratively, sharing ideas, resources and skills with their peers. Pupils will develop their fine motor skills so that they can use a range of tools competently, safely and confidently.

In Key Stage One, pupils will learn to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products. They will use mark making, painting, drawing, printing, mixed media, digital and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination. They will develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space. They will learn about a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work. All pupils will use a sketchbook to record their ideas and observations.

Moving into Key Stage Two, pupils will be 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. They will use mark making, painting, drawing, printing, mixed media, digital and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination. They will use sketchbooks to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas. They will improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials. They will also learn about great artists, architects and designers in history.

Impact | How do we assess the impact of what we teach via pupil outcomes?

Art and Design follows the Hooe Primary Academy assessment framework that informs the schools about the impact of two main aspects of the Teaching and Learning process:

1.  The depth of a pupil's knowledge, understanding and ability to make links in learning.                         
2. The ability for pupils to apply procedural knowledge to skill-based activities.

Within the context of Art and Design, the following methods of assessment are used:

Recall knowledge: Pupils will demonstrate an ability to recall facts and information, whilst demonstrating their ability to recall and model the techniques taught. This assessment of pupils’ knowledge in these areas will be used to inform future lessons, the need for additional practice, pre-teach and interventions. 

Explore and Question: Using graphic schema, pupils will be challenged to demonstrate an ability to use their knowledge by being asked rich, varied questions relating to the subject matter. Pupils will be able to use a rich vocabulary to communicate their own thoughts and interpretations of questions relating to the subject. Pupils will demonstrate their understanding of the taught skills, techniques and knowledge to explore their own ideas within Art and Design, selecting and exploring the techniques they have developed so far.

Communicate: For each Art and Design project, pupils will produce a final piece using their acquired knowledge, skills and understanding. Teachers will provide pupils with opportunities to articulate what they have learned, the design choices they have made and how it connects with the wider curriculum. This could be through but not limited to: project shares, written pieces of work, competitions and gallery exhibitions.