Art & Design

Art, craft and design embodies some of the highest forms of human creativity.  It is a powerful tool that allows creative voices to be heard, raises confidence, develops problem-solving, communication and creative thinking skills. These are essential tools to prepare the next generation for the future.

A high-quality art and design education engages, inspires and challenges pupils, equipping them with knowledge and skills to experiment invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.  As pupils progress, they are encouraged to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design.  They are taught how art and design both reflect and shape our history and how these contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences.

• Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.

• Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design

• Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

The teaching and implementation of the Art and Design Curriculum at Rocks Park Primary School is based on the National Curriculum and linked to topics where possible to ensure a well-structured approach to this creative subject. There will also be periods where we will focus on skills or outcome, to give the children a broad and varied view on the possibilities within Art and Design. The areas covered can be found in our Long Term plan.

We work with four main areas that cover the curriculum;

·         ongoing sketchbook study, where children can explore their own ideas, practice their skills or respond to other artist’s work.

·         This is followed by the generating of ideas stage, where the children will explore and develop their own ideas, informed by artwork from artists and different times.

·         Next is the making stage, where we will focus on an intent that will drive the exploration of the subject.

·         Finally, the evaluation stage, where the children will, with increasingly more detailed reflection and reason, learn how to evaluate artist’s work, their peer’s work and their own work.

The children's learning is further enhanced with whole school project days, which will give the children have the opportunity for collaborative working and exploring the different styles and techniques of a range of artists as well as joint projects with other schools to celebrate the importance of the Art and Design Subject.