Art & Design
Intent
At Maidenbower Infant School and Nursery, we believe that ‘what happens early, matters for a lifetime’. Each child is born with their own unique creativity and imagination and is at the centre of our Art and Design curriculum. We have therefore made our curriculum accessible to all, maximising the opportunity for development of every child’s skills across a variety of different art forms. In the words of Loris Malaguzzi, ‘Our task, regarding creativity, is to help children climb their own mountains, as high as possible.’ We ensure that our children can become imaginative and creative artists, inspired by a range of artwork from around the world, including here in Crawley. The children will be able to create individualised and original artwork, developing their own personal style. They will do this by using a wide breadth of art techniques and media, following a clear progression of knowledge and skills, which builds on previous learning.
At Maidenbower Infant School and Nursery we aim to develop the children’s skills, knowledge and appreciation of art by:
- Building on previously learnt skills and techniques year on year.
- Teaching the children to think and work like artists. They are encouraged to explore, experiment and take risks.
- Expanding their vocabularies with technical and expressive words that are explicitly taught and then regularly used in lessons.
- Developing cultural capital by providing links to local artists and artwork in the Crawley area.
- Developing skills in Drawing, Painting and Mixed Media, Sculpture and 3D Art.
- Further developing the children’s social, moral, spiritual and cultural learning in art by introducing them to a great variety of artists from different cultures and backgrounds and teaching the children how to be respectful and thoughtful during peer critique opportunities.
At Maidenbower Infant School and Nursery, we recognise the importance of an ambitious and engaging curriculum which develops children’s artistic skills and knowledge of artists, designers and craft makers. We have carefully sequenced learning from Nursery to Year 2 to ensure that children can build on their prior knowledge. This will ensure that children know more and remember more over time.
Implementation
Our knowledge and skill progression documents are guided by the statutory National Curriculum 2014 and carefully show the sequential, small steps of learning of knowledge and skills required. We also use the expertise of the Kapow Art and Design Curriculum to embellish and support our art teaching.
Units of lessons are sequential, allowing children to build their skills and knowledge, applying them to a range of outcomes. The formal elements, a key part of the National Curriculum, are also woven throughout units and also taught discretely. Key skills are revisited with increasing complexity in a spiral curriculum model. This allows pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Units in each year group include learning in the three core areas of drawing, painting and mixed media and sculpture and 3D art. Creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded into the Art and Design curriculum, supporting children in learning how to make their own creative choices and decisions, so that their art outcomes, whilst still being knowledge-rich, are unique to the child and personal.
In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), Art and Design is part of the ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ area of learning. This consists of learning related to imagination and creativity, self-expression and communicating through the arts. Children explore and experiment with a range of media and materials both inside and outside the classroom. EYFS teachers teach art skills through the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning ‘playing and exploring’, ‘active learning’ and ‘creating and thinking critically’. Elements of the Kapow scheme are used where appropriate in the EYFS, both in the classroom and during continuous provision time. The planning is adapted to meet the needs of the children each year.
In Key Stage 1, children begin to refine their artistic skills and build on prior knowledge e.g. re-capping what the children learnt and remember about colour in Reception when they re-visit this in Year 1 and then again as they progress through the school. Lessons are always practical in nature and encourage experimental and exploratory learning, with children using sketchbooks to document their ideas. Guidance for possible adaptations is available to ensure that activities can be accessed and enjoyed by all children and opportunities to stretch their learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support children by providing a highly visual record of the key knowledge and techniques learned, encouraging recall of skills processes, key facts and vocabulary. Pupil videos created by subject specialists ensure that children see art techniques modelled by experts when appropriate.
The units covered in Year 1 are:
- Formal elements
- Landscapes using different media
- Art and design skills
- Sculptures and collages
In Year 2 the units covered are:
- Formal elements
- Art and design skills
- Human form
- Sculpture and mixed media
The children also take part in a range of Art activities during their Forest School sessions each year. This provides the opportunity to learn in a different setting and use awe and wonder of the natural world as inspiration for their artwork. The activities completed in the forest include making a crown from natural materials, creating leaf animals, hapa zome, leaf rubbing, a colour hunt, making faces using natural materials, tree sketching, decorating a name disc, ephemeral art based on the artist Andy Goldsworthy and making an animal using clay and natural materials.
Impact
The Art and Design curriculum will contribute to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection. Children will leave Maidenbower Infant School and Nursery equipped with a range of techniques and the confidence and creativity to form a strong foundation for their Art and Design learning at Key Stage 2.
The impact of their Art and Design learning is that children will:
- Produce creative work, exploring and recording their ideas and experiences.
- Be proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using subject-specific language.
- Know about great artists and the historical and cultural development of their art.
- Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the EYFS and National Curriculum for Art and Design.
The Art and Design curriculum is designed in such a way that children are involved in the evaluation, dialogue and decision making about the quality of their outcomes and the improvements they need to make. By taking part in regular discussions and decision-making processes, children will not only know facts and key information about art, but they will be able to talk confidently about their own learning journey, have higher metacognitive skills and have a growing understanding of how to improve.
The impact of the Art and Design curriculum is constantly monitored through formative assessment opportunities. Each lesson, teachers will use the strategies of observation, dialogue with children and through observing their competency at tasks within their sketch books. Children are assessed against the learning intentions for the lesson and additional support and adaptations are provided to ensure that every child achieves.
The art subject leader monitors the teaching and learning of art through regularly visiting art lessons, observing the teaching and learning of art happening in the moment, through looking in children’s sketch books, planning scrutinies and by capturing pupil voice about their art learning.
Below, you will find some useful links to support art learning at home:
Take a look at our art gallery which displays some of our most recent art work from Reception to Year 2: