INTENT

Why our art curriculum looks like this:

Our Art curriculum aims to develop creativity, engage and inspire all children across KS2. It allows children of all abilities to experiment with skills and materials to widen their knowledge and understanding of art, design and craft. The curriculum has appropriate subject knowledge; skills and understanding to explore a wide range of artists and designers, both historical and modern; to create and evaluate artwork as set out by the National Curriculum. This will enable children to nurture and develop their creative abilities at Middlemarch School with support and enthusiasm.

IMPLEMENTATION

How art is taught at Middlemarch: 

Our art curriculum provides a clear and comprehensive scheme of work that will show progression of skills across KS2 within the different strands of Art. The children given an opportunities to present their sense of vision through observation, experimentation and illustration. Pupils are encouraged to use their imagination through a wide variety of media and manipulative skills are developed. Children will have access to teachers with appropriate subject knowledge to model and inspire them to use a range of techniques and materials to create personal pieces of imaginative artwork. Teaching should link art lessons to the wider curriculum, linking to topics taught throughout the year. These links are continued through our termly Take One Book Week, which provided fantastic cross curricular links between English and Art.

Process

Key Stage 2:

·Children should be using their sketch books frequently as a place for them to experiment and try out techniques at any point in the school week. They should be considered an art jotter to be used regularly and by the children’s own initiation so that ideas can be reviewed and revisited.
·Pupils should be taught to develop their techniques through topic work.
·Pupils will be taught about great artists, architects and designers of history and now, with equal attention being paid to male and female artists.
 

IMPACT

Our art curriculum is a key aspect in Middlemarch education, not only through art lessons but through cross curricular links. We use art as a tool for addressing curriculum breadth, and also for well-being activities including Thrive and Nurture. The new art curriculum has been designed to ensure that children get an immersive creative education; the artists and makers we study are from all parts of the world; include both powerful male and female artists for the children to feel inspired by; and additionally historical and contemporary practitioners. There is a wealth of mediums that the children are introduced to across year 3 to 6, and familiar mediums that the children to practice and improve upon. We have a skills and progression document that carefully and clearly provides learning objectives for class teacher to utilise to ensure that children gain the skills and knowledge that they require in that given year.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

•Images and videos of the children’s practical learning.
•Asking the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
•Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.
•Moving towards annual assessing of children's’ work via O’Track
•Verbal feedback of work throughout the course of the lessons.
•Consistent sketchbook use.