Harris Academies
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Art

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” 

Pablo Picasso 

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 

ART 1

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: 

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 

KS2 

  Autumn 1  Autumn 2 Spring 1  Spring 2  Summer 1 Summer 2
Year 3 

Drawing 

Cave drawings

Albrecht Durer 

Visual texture 

Environmental Art  

Olafur Eliasson 

Pompeii 

Mosaic 

William Morris 

Designs with natural forms 

Sculpture  

Louise Bourgeois 

Year 4  Fernand Leger: Drawing and painting  Rosenquist pop art: Drawing, collage and colouring  Matisse: Collage  Benin Empire: Cardboard relief sculpture  Impressionism: Painting en plein air  Hokusai: Printing famous landmarks 
Year 5 

Maria Sibylla Merian  

Scientific illustration

Henry Moore 

Family unit sculptures

Sonia Boyce 

pastel drawings and photographic collages 

Grayson Perry 

ceramic vases, tapestries and maps 

Willem Kalf 

Still life painting

Banksy Graffiti and Street Art
Year 6 

Antoni Gaudi 

Architecture and design

Chris Ofili  

Conceptual art 

Sarah Eisenlohr 

Human impact collage

Gustav Klimt 

Mixed media 

Michelle Reader 

Figurative junk sculpture

Elizabeth Catlett 

Printing portraits  

Impact: Evidence and assessment 

The Art and Design curriculum aims to excite pupils and ignite their enthusiasm in the world around them. Judging the impact of art has always been a topic of debate. A large differentiation in perspective and opinion of artwork makes it difficult to define and therefore, assess pupils’ learning.  

Within art education pupils should be encouraged to express difference in opinion which contrasts with fixed assessment criteria. Continuous formative assessment within art is important to view the processes that a child goes through when creating artwork.  

The skills and techniques that the pupils learn will impact the learning environments in and around the academy. Pupils will be encouraged to take influences from their surroundings and improve the aesthetics of their local community by exhibiting artwork linked to all areas of the curriculum and beyond. 

Subject leaders will conduct learning walks and pupil interviews to measure the impact of our teaching, based on how much children can remember. 

Subject leaders will meet with their counterparts from our other cluster schools throughout the year and will moderate the planning, work and monitoring outcomes from their setting to ensure that standards are exceeding the expectations of the National Curriculum. 

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