Art & Design

We follow a two year rolling programme in Art and Design based on the National Curriculum. Please follow the links below to see an overview of our Art curriculum and progression in this subject:

Year A Overview Year B Overview Art Progression

INTENT

At Beech Grove Primary School, we value Art and design as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Art and design provides the children with the opportunities to develop and extend skills and an opportunity to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas.

Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. Our curriculum engages, inspires and challenges our pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they are challenged to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They develop an understanding of how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

IMPLEMENTATION

Art and design is taught in half-termly blocks; most units are linked to the wider curriculum. Areas covered include sculpture, mosaics, printing, drawing and painting. Units are often based on topic work, such as Anglo-Saxon houses, nature, Aboriginal art, WW2 propaganda posters, pointillism, Pop Art and the works of the impressionist artists. More detail can be found on our long-term plans.

The work of famous local, national and international artists are explored to enhance the children's learning.

The children are given a wide range of enrichment experiences such as: museum visits to attend workshops and exhibitions. We also provide an annual cross curricular art week which is exciting, inspiring and engaging. During this week, the children have opportunities to be actively involved in a variety of creative workshops. We are fortunate to have a professional artist on our staff team who teaches art across the school. A passion for art inspires the children in this subject and they produce work of a high standard as a result. We set up art galleries of the children’s work for parents to view, which motivates the children’s learning, promoting ownership and enjoyment.

IMPACT

Our rigorous and carefully designed curriculum enables pupils to make strong progress in art and design. A high percentage of our pupils reach an age appropriate standard by the end of Year 6.

Our Art and Design curriculum will also lead pupils to be enthusiastic Art and Design learners, evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice, their final pieces and sketchbooks, we ensure that children who are achieving well, as well as those who need additional support, are identified, and additional provision and strategies are planned in and discussed with class teachers. The impact of our Art and Design curriculum is to promote the opportunity for every child to be an artist. By embedding the formal elements, every child is encouraged to be creative, innovative and reflective on their own and others’ practice using the subject-specific vocabulary to support their reasoning. Through the use of sketchbooks and in-depth discussion around artists, their art and practices, pupils learn that art can be constantly reviewed and developed, further promoting the resilient, engaged independent learners of Beech Grove. Achievements are celebrated in classrooms during walking-galleries and corridor displays, and by building increasing creativity, we aim to develop our future artists and their appreciation of art around them.