Art
At Stanway Fiveways, we believe that art is a vital and integral part of children’s education. We have designed a curriculum for the arts with the intent that our children will develop a sense of creativity, self-expression, excellence and high attainment. Art contributes to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection. Moreover, it enables pupils to develop a natural sense of wonder and curiosity about the world around them and therefore links strongly to our school values. The focus is in developing proficiency in drawing, painting, understanding colour and shade and sculpture, with the overall aim of developing a rigorous understanding, critical awareness and inspiration of art and design.
We will deliver a curriculum that:
- exposes all children to the arts, giving them a chance to experience, and participate in a range of creative activities and events.
- allows our children to experiment in a ‘safe’ environment where there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ results, thus, both self-expression and self-esteem may be enhanced.
- gives children entitlement to a wide range of experiences in the arts as part of and in addition to the curriculum.
- gives children the opportunity to explore, develop and communicate their personal, aesthetic response to experience.
- develops their knowledge and skills within a wide range of arts activities.
- introduces them to an appreciation of the arts that will last a lifetime.
- develops their appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage within the school and local community.
- helps them make personal interpretations of what they have experienced.
- encourages children to express themselves creatively using a wide range of media and situations.
We teach a skills-based art curriculum, which allows children to express their creative imagination as well as providing them with opportunities to practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting, printing, textiles and sculpture. This is supported through the studying of key artists and the development of a knowledge of their work.
Lessons are taught in blocks on a half termly/termly basis and involve studying existing pieces of art, sketching aspects of these, with a particular focus on the necessary skills, before completing a final piece. The children are given constructive feedback and next steps throughout the process, with further opportunities to create the art piece, to improve their work and ensure that the skills are being developed. The evidence of their work is collected within the art sketch book. Photographs of larger, group or 3D pieces are also kept within this book.
Our Art Skills Progression document is available to download below.