Art
“Art is not just a subject to learn, but an activity that you can practise with your hands, your eyes, your whole personality.” Quentin Blake
INTENT
At Gislingham, we believe that Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. Art is a vital part of children’s education and has a significant and valuable role in the taught curriculum, as well as the enrichment opportunities we offer our pupils. Our Art curriculum develops creativity, sets challenges, engages and inspires children, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. It enables children to communicate what they see, feel and think and allows them to experiment with their ideas, their use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. Self evaluation of work is encouraged and children are taught how to be resilient to achieve their goal.
IMPLEMENTATION
We plan carefully as a school, focussing half termly on specific areas of the Art and Design curriculum, to ensure that it meets the needs of the children. The skills and knowledge that children will develop throughout each art topic are mapped across each year group and throughout the school to ensure progression. The emphasis on knowledge ensures that children understand the context of the artwork, as well as the artists that they are learning about and being inspired by. A similar focus on skills means that children are given opportunities to express their creative imagination, as well as practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting, printing, textiles and sculpture.
Coordinated whole-school project work ensures that art is given high status in the curriculum. We provide opportunities for children to visit museums and galleries, developing their skills of observation and evaluation.
The school’s high quality art curriculum is supported through the availability of a wide range of quality resources, which are used to support children’s confidence in the use of different media. We place emphasis on the use of first-hand experience, experimentation and development of ideas and skills based on a wide range of stimuli. The quality of the first-hand experience is extremely important.
We use sketchbooks to record experience and imagination, to help the children develop their ideas and to show progression in their artistic ability. We encourage children to work on their own and collaborate with others on projects in two and three dimensions and on small and large scales.
IMPACT
Classroom displays reflect the children’s sense of pride in their artwork and this is also demonstrated by creative outcomes across the wider curriculum. The school environment also celebrates children’s achievements in art and demonstrates the subject’s high status in the school. The Art curriculum at Gislingham contributes to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection.
To find out more about our Art Curriculum at Gislingham, please click on the links below: