Art & Design

Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artefacts, expressing the author's imaginative, conceptual ideas, or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power.

An artist needs:

• Communication skills
• Imagination
• A critical eye
• Creativity
• Collaboration

To become effective artists, we will teach children about

Intent: Introduction, Vision and Philosophy

We understand that a high–quality art and design curriculum should engage, inspire and challenge pupils. The intent of the art and design curriculum is to develop human creativity by equipping students with the skills to experiment, invent, create and evaluate. To gain knowledge and an understanding of art and design the pupils will learn about art through history and through a range of cultural, enriching experiences.

Implementation: What does Art and Design look like? An overview:

At Harris Primary Merton, we want our children to gain experience of materials and techniques, teamwork and autonomy. We want them to develop an understanding of artists, artworks and artforms in different contexts. This is achieved by Introducing children to a diverse range of male and female artists from different times and places and cultures, positioning art and design in a wider context, making it relatable for the children by making links to current affairs and popular culture. We celebrate the process as well as the ‘finished’ artwork and support children to appreciate their efforts and that of others. At Harris Primary Merton, we recognise that art and design provide children with an additional language, a visual one. We live in a visual world and are constantly interpreting images and inferring meaning from our visual environment. As Art and Design teachers we will present, scaffold, and teach skills and concepts in inclusive, inspiring, engaging and relevant ways which will help each child develop ways to express themselves.

We deliver a curriculum which teaches key knowledge in drawing, painting,collage, textiles, printing and sculpting by using materials and techniques. We also believe that by creating enriching experiences, during lessons and extra-curricular activities, the pupils are able to gain a love of the subject and understand the important links that art has in the world we live in

Helping pupils to create sketchbooks enables them to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas improve their mastery of art and design techniques. Key Stage 2 pupils are expected to practice techniques with increasing control and “think critically with developing a more rigorous understanding or art and design” (DfE 2013: 176). Within the sketchbook, pupils will be taught to evaluate and share opinions surrounding other great artists’ work. They will also need to give reasoning for decisions and draw influences from great artists, architects and designers in history.

The increased use of technology should also be considered when teaching art and design. Pupils will also have an understanding of digital art and how digital and physical art are interlinked. 

We teach the following units in art and design 

KS1:

KS2:

Impact 
Evidence and Assessment

The Art and Design curriculum aims to excite pupils and ignite their enthusiasm in the world around them. Through the high quality first teaching of Art taking place, we will see the impact of the subject in different ways. At Harris Primary Merton children have the opportunity to record their learning in a variety of ways, which is recorded within their Art sketch books. Evidence of the learning is dependent on the lesson outcome; year group and the skills and knowledge being developed. Core knowledge of each unit is supported by a knowledge organiser which details the key learning points, vocabulary (pattern; colour; texture; tone; shape; line) and key questions. It is our expectation that the knowledge on our organiser is known by all children. Within art education pupils should be encouraged to express difference in opinion which contrasts with fixed assessment criteria. In order to do this, children are provided with sentence starters to support them as they talk about art – I see, I think, I wonder (visual thinking). Continuous formative assessment within art is important to view the processes that a child goes through when creating artwork. Our teachers rely on a range of assessment tools to provide data on the knowledge and skills pupils have, their progress and their development points.

This includes:

• assessment for learning

• standards of learning in books

• end of unit questions and quizzing

• pupil voice

At Harris Primary Merton, we pride ourselves on the fact regular feedback is welcomed by the children. Pupils across the school have the opportunity to share their learning and opinions on their lessons through pupil voice meetings. This allows teachers to make each lesson child centred and engaging for all. Through pupil voice children will be able to talk about the skills and knowledge they have acquired.