Art

"When I am finishing a picture, I hold some God-made object up to it – a rock, a flower, the branch of a tree or my hand – as a final test. If the painting stands up beside a thing man cannot make, the painting is authentic. If there’s a clash between the two, it’s bad art."
Marc Chagall

What is Art and Design and why is it important at Minster?

Curriculum Intent

At Minster-in-Sheppey Primary School, our vision is for every child to be the best they can be – best learner, best friend, and best citizen. Our Art curriculum reflects these values by giving pupils every opportunity to develop their ability, nurture their talent and interests, express their ideas and thoughts about the world, as well as learning about art and artists across cultures and through history.

Our curriculum aims to inspire pupils and develop their confidence to experiment and invent their own works of art. Pupils will become confident and proficient in a variety of techniques including drawing, painting, sculpting, as well as other selected craft skills, e.g. collage, printing, weaving and patterns. Each unit draws inspiration from carefully selected experts in the field, providing real-world context and relevance. Reflection and self-evaluation—key aspects of our Minster Muscles—are embedded throughout, ensuring pupils continually review and improve their work.

We celebrate our local environment and heritage by incorporating projects linked to our Island’s rich history. An example includes visiting Queenborough, to draw landscapes, inspired by the artist Stephen Wiltshire's use of tone.

Recognising that many pupils have limited prior experience in Art, we have mapped our curriculum to provide depth, breadth, and balance across all year groups. Art and Design and Design Technology are interwoven to create a cohesive, creative learning experience that enriches problem-solving skills. This approach supports our ongoing school development goal of raising the profile of creativity, with the Artsmark framework playing an influential role.

Implementation

The teaching and learning of Art at Minster-in-Sheppey Primary School is based on the National Curriculum and linked to topics to ensure a well-structured approach to this creative subject. We will plan it in a creative and exciting manner, allowing adequate time for the teaching of key skills in Art, as well as, collaborating with university professors and experienced teachers to ensure it is progressive, innovative and built upon previous learning.

In the Foundation Stage, we relate the creative development of the children to the objectives laid out in the EYFS documents.

Pupils explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities. They have opportunities to learn to:

Explore the textures, movement, feel and look of different media and materials
Respond to a range of media and materials, develop their understanding of them in order to manipulate and create different effects
Use different media and materials to express their own ideas
Explore colour and use for a particular purpose
Develop skills to use simple tools and techniques competently and appropriately
Select appropriate media and techniques and adapt their work where necessary

Pupils in EYFS will also engage in some themed activities to celebrate different occasions such as: Remembrance, Christmas, Guy Fawkes and charity events such as: Children in Need which will also serve as a launchpad to support the development of key knowledge and skills (please see EYFS document Art in EYFS).

Key Stage 1

Pupils are taught:

To use a range of materials creatively to design and make products
To use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
To develop a wide range of art 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 disciplines, and making links to their own work

Key Stage 2

Pupils are taught:

To develop their techniques, including their control and use of media and materials.
To be creative and experiment; building an increasing awareness of different kinds of arts and crafts
To improve their mastery of techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture, with a range of materials
About great artists, architects and designers throughout history.

The inspiration for each unit of learning is taken from our six curriculum themes:

Home and Away
Time Tunnel
One World
Through the Ages
Environmental Explorers
Going Global

Where possible these units link learning to key events or places associated with the Geography and History of our Island.

Impact

At the end of each year, our pupils would have experienced many opportunities to apply their artistic skills across the curriculum.

We aim for all our pupils to become the ‘Best Learner, Best Friend and Best Citizen equipping and preparing them for each next step they take including secondary school and becoming well-rounded citizens. To support this we give out pupils the opportunity to be creative, innovative and imaginative in a safe and reflective setting. Pupils are encouraged to use their Minster Muscles across the curriculum and those of Risk-taking, Empathy, Teamwork and Self-reflection/evaluation are encouraged and used in all Art lessons. The impact of this allows pupils to feel confident to try different techniques and equipment to meet the art criteria.

Progress, will be demonstrated through regular monitoring and evaluation of the pupil's learning with teachers giving continuous feedback to build the pupil's knowledge and skills. Retrieval practice is built into each teaching and learning sequence to assess both learning over time and performance to support lesson adaption.

The subject leader conducts learning walks and book looks to evaluate the curriculum. Progress is measured through formative assessment and class teachers keep assessment records.