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Art & Design

At St Paul’s, we want to enable all pupils to feel able to think and act creatively. That means exploring all aspects of creativity: personal and social, exploring art for a variety of reasons, in a variety of contexts. Most importantly, it means enjoying the journey, so that pupils want to engage in creative activities, and so that they can grow to appreciate and value the importance of art as a highly subjective and individual experience, but one which is capable of bringing people together.

What our children say about art

In a pupil voice there was a resounding response to, ‘Yay it’s art now!’

Children at St Paul's say, 'In art there is no right or wrong. Art is a lesson to feel free! '

I like that it is a break from writing which allows us to express how we feel.

Our intent for art and design at St Paul’s

Children will be resilient, able to persevere and learn from their mistakes when creating art work. Pupils will take risks in their experimentation and see mistakes as part of their artistic journey and as a road to creativity and individuality in their artwork.
Children will record their artistic journeys in a sketchbook of their thoughts, in turn producing a creative journey.
To communicate effectively and confidently when discussing and critiquing their own work and their peers, as well as when conversing or challenging a famous artist’s work.
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.
To foster a deep respect for beliefs, cultures, different world views and all that makes us unique through the study of artists from all walks of life.
For pupils to have a rich culture capital by arranging trips to museums and galleries.
For pupils to have an opportunity to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas.
To foster pupils who are appreciative of art and design in how it both reflects and shaped our history, and contributes to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

What our children say about art

We get to use lots of different mediums and we love how we can use/learn different styles

We are able to look at diverse art from all around the world

It is a way for me to express myself without using words. Art lessons send you to your own world of imagination

Overview showing the diversity of the artists we study

How and what do we teach in art and design?

All classes at St Paul’s enjoy regular art lessons. Children 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 and design. Basic skills are introduced and then built upon, including: drawing and sketchbook; paint, surface and texture; print, collage and colour and working in three dimensions. Skills are revisited throughout the years and the use of sketchbooks underpins this process. Children use sketchbooks to record their artistic journeys and they become a working document, not a journal of finished pieces. By creating a safe and nurturing environment, pupils are encouraged to take creative risks and to learn from the journey, rather than head towards a pre-defined end result.

What our children say about art

When we feel stressed, we find art lessons to be calm and relaxing

We love that art takes us on a journey; how lots of little things build up the bigger picture

How is art and design taught in the Early Years?

In the Early Years, we recognise that all areas of learning and development are interconnected. However, Art and Design primarily sits with the ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ area within the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. The children’s progress and development is therefore monitored against the Early Learning Goals for ‘Exploring and Using Media and Materials’ and ‘Being Imaginative’.

Foundation Stage staff use observations as the basis for planning. These observations will identify their achievements, interests and next steps for learning and then lead the direction of the planning. We deliver learning for all of the areas through purposeful play and learning experiences, with a balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities.

Children have daily opportunities to develop their Art and Design skills and free access to a variety of carefully planned materials and resources. Children are encouraged to draw inspiration from a range of sources and to create and think critically.

We value the individuality of children’s learning and the process as well as the outcome.

What our children say about art

Y6 children express how they like that they follow what they need to in the lessons but are then given the freedom to be individual. They enjoy being given all the information and skills to include and they can see it all come together in one masterpiece at the end.

Art and Design across the school

At St Paul’s, we aim to encourage and enable a high quality exploration of the visual arts. Throughout different year groups, our activities and projects help build skills, knowledge and experience, and help nurture independent, explorative learners right from Reception all the way to Year 6.

We place great value on the journey, knowing that the outcome will follow.

Art Curriculum at St Paul's 2023-24 v1.pdf

St Paul’s, Kingston Hill - Art and Design Curriculum – 2025-2026.pdf

Year 1

Year 1 learnt about the concept of nature sculpture. The children had an opportunity to learn about different kinds of nature sculptures and to explore the work of Andy Goldsworthy and other environmental artists. They focused on different techniques using natural materials, model making, observational drawing and collecting materials.

Year 2

Year 2 use the book 'Black Artists Shaping the World' by Sharna Jackson as inspiration for a unit of work. Over the course of the unit the children look at different artists and create artwork in response to it.

Year 2 - 'I enjoy realising there is different art as I thought there was just painting but now I realise there is collaging to!'

Year 3

Year 3 complete relief printing in conjunction with their Egyptian topic as well as using their observational skills for still life drawings.

Year 4

Children in Year 4 have produced work inspired by the artist William Johnson. They have carefully considered their colour choices and used a blending technique with oil pastels to produce these striking pieces.

Year 5

Exploring how different materials can be shaped and joined and learning about techniques used by artists as diverse as Barbara Hepworth and Sokari Chila Kumari Singh Burman, children create their own sculptures.

Year 6

Year 6 create sculptural 'wave bowls' based on Islamic art. Their initial work is to research the art from the Islamic work, recording their ideas in their sketchbooks.

We visit the V and A to inspire us more. Next step was to design and plan how each tile will be decorated, from there the children create a sculpure out of the triangluar tiles. The challenging part came with having to connect the tiles.

It’s been a great project to see progression from initial research to final outcome.

Events and competitions

Young Artist's Summer Show 2026

The Royal Academy of Arts is running a competition for children and young people aged between 4 and 19 years old. Now in its eighth year, the Young Artists’ Summer Show is a free, open submission exhibition for students aged 4–18 studying in the UK. Artworks are judged by a panel of artists and arts professionals, with selected artworks displayed online and on-site at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Registration and submission is open until 4th March 2026, find out more and get involved. https://youngartists.royalacademy.org.uk/get-involved

Submitting artwork is completely free and is done online. The art work can be of anything! All you have to do to submit your child's artwork is register following the link below and then select St Paul’s CofE Primary school, Kingston Hill – I have already registered the school. (It may be easier to search using our postcode KT2 6AZ.) https://youngartists.royalacademy.org.uk/submissions/1 You can submit yourself online or we can submit for you – just ask your child to bring their artwork to Miss Barnham.

We have lots of budding artists at St Paul’s so hopefully it should be of interest!

Fourth Plinth Awards 2026

The Fourth Plinth Schools Awards 2026 are now open for entries. It’s a chance for your child to get creative and produce a work of art inspired by the contemporary art commissions for Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth. Students will need to design and/or make a model of a sculpture or drawing for the Fourth Plinth. This should express their views on life in London/the world.

Here’s how to get involved:

• Get your child to design an artwork inspired by the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square

• Ask them to bring it to Miss Barnham throughout the school day or drop it off at the office for Miss Barnham.

• There are winner and runner-up prizes for different age categories: 5-7 years, 8-11 years and 12-15 years, as well as prizes for the best work from each borough. There’ll also be a presentation ceremony at new City Hall and all winning entries will appear in an exhibition in late spring. We have previously had two winners so we could be lucky again!

• Entries can be in all art forms including drawing, painting, sculpture, collage and digital designs. There’s no limit to the number of entries from each school and both group and individual entries are welcome. A template is attached for you to use. If you need a copy of this, send your child to Miss Barnham. Fourth Plinth template

• The deadline for entries and to allow time for uploads is Friday 6th March 2026.

Check the following website for new ideas and helpful materials www.london.gov.uk/imagination as well as this page to take a look at current entries Fourth Plinth Schools Awards 2026 gallery https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/arts-and-culture/current-culture-projects/fourth-plinth-trafalgar-square/fourth-plinth-schools-awards-2026/fourth-plinth-schools-awards-2026-gallery

You may wish to visit Trafalgar Square to see the current Fourth Plinth and the other sculptures in the square. This may help to understand the context of the plinth and will help them design and develop an artwork for the plinth.

See year group pages for Knowledge Organisers.

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