The teaching and implementation of the Art and Design Curriculum is based on the National Curriculum ensuring a well-structured and cross curricular approach to this creative subject. We recognise the impact of arts and the cultural learning. We promote a positive experience giving children a creative outlet to explore and allowing children to find new ways of expressing themselves and believing in themselves as artists. Our art and design curriculum allows children to show their creative imagination as well as providing them with opportunities to practice and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting, collage, and sculpture. This is supported through the studying of key artists, architects, designers and craft makers and great artists from different points in history. Children are exposed to a range of artists through the three paradigms of time (traditional, modern, and contemporary) where they can gain an understanding of their style and choose elements of their work to use in their own unique piece. The substantive and disciplinary knowledge that children will develop throughout each art topic is mapped across each year group and throughout the school to ensure progression. The emphasis on knowledge ensures that children understand the context of the artwork, as well as the artists that they are learning about and being inspired by their different techniques and artwork. We ensure application of knowledge in various contexts, adapting lessons where necessary so that children develop schemas and both substantive and disciplinary knowledge is stored in the long-term memory.Lessons are taught in blocks on a half 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 teaching of art consists of a balance of substantive, theoretical and disciplinary knowledge where the children study relevant artists and their style. This enables children to then interpret the elements of art and how they can be used and combined to create their desired effect.Art is assessed through verbal constructive feedback and next steps, 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 which follows the children through the school. Photographs of larger, group or 3D pieces are also kept within this book. Summative assessments take place throughout the year and teachers record the progress and attainment against the National Curriculum expectations of attainment and the Knowledge and skills progression documents. Teachers use this information to inform future lessons; ensuring children are supported and challenged appropriately.Further information is gathered through pupil questionnaires; highlighting strengths and achievement and any improvements, knowledge and skills that still need to be embedded.The children’s achievements are celebrated on their End of Year report to parents. Here judgements are made on their effort, achievement, and progress within the arts.Children in Foundation Stage are assessed within Expressive Arts and Design and their progress is tracked using the EYFS curriculum. Age related expectation levels are reported to parents at the end of the reception year.
To view our subject overview for art, please click here.
By the end of each key stage 2, pupils will:
We have been very lucky to have the artist Rory McCann create a mural for our Reception corridor using characters from the stories we enjoy . He gave each class a master class on his techniques to create a 3D effect, reflections, shadows and where the light comes from. He demonstrated how to do these and we were able to watch him in action.
Below are some fantastic pieces of Art created by the children of Redhill - These photos were taken a few years ago, but are still on display in the school foyer!
We were very lucky to have the opportunity to work with and meet the illustrator Katy Alson. As a whole school we worked with Katy to create our 3D traditional tale carousel book. Each year group focused on a traditional story drawing characters, events and objects on to a piece of paper . We then traced the drawings onto the pages in the books and finished off using watercolours to add detail.
We were asked by Clarke solicitors to take part in a competition to help decorate their windows for Christmas. We were asked to create some art work around the theme of 'When Santa got stuck up the chimney’. Here are some examples of our entries from across the year groups.
For our trip this term, Year 6 have visited Walsall Art Gallery.
One of the gallery staff introduced us to the Garman Ryan exhibition - the reason for the founding of the museum in the beginning. We learnt that they collected art work which they like, from a wide range of times and media, and how the gallery is organised by subject in the art work (for example: landscape, animals, portraits). We investigated the concept of portraits in greater detail, sketching and developing people from different directions and individual features of their faces. We used plasticine to create our own models of animals, like we could see represented in the animals gallery. As well as focusing on learning about how to use modroc for sculpture, we also investigated a range of other types of art work. We looked at a range of work in the children’s room, looking at the artists and types of media they used. We thought about the work that most appealed to us and why and the work which we didn’t really like and why. We discussed how having a different opinion was fine, but we had to respect the views of others.
We also had the opportunity to look round the museum and to see the different exhibitions. We focused on the work of Amalia Pica, an Argentian artist who now lives in London. Her latest exhibition, Private and Confidential, focuses on exposing the concepts of security and confidentiality and mocking some of the systems used in Government. Her work was particularly interesting as it was unusual: made from stamps to create images on paper, all presented like a series of postage stamps; a desk, similar to what we might find in an office, with stamps and paper; desks and tables set out for meetings; giant seats, shaped like ’ears’, made from shredded documents as if they were listening in; and work created from repeating geometric shapes, particularly chosen for their use in envelopes for security reasons.
Overall, it was a very interesting and enjoyable day for all involved!
As part of our visit to Walsall Art Gallery, we took part in a sculpture workshop focussing on developing our Modroc skills. We looked at creating busts to focus our attention on adding detail and creating a sculpture which had detail from all angles.
As part of this, we discussed how we can build up the basic structure of our shape using newspaper and masking tape. We then looked at how to use Modroc - smoothing it down carefully to ensure the plaster was spread out and formed a smooth, strong bond between the pieces.
Once we had built up a layer of Modroc with no newspaper visible, we were shown how best to build up different features such as noses, eyebrows, eyes and ears. Because these skills are going to be applied to creating our own mythical creatures at school, we were also shown how these same skills could be used to develop features such as horns on a creature.