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St Pancras Catholic Primary

St Pancras
Catholic Primary School

Art

Art  -  “Logic will take you from A to B.   Imagination will take you everywhere.”  (Albert Einstein)

At St. Pancras Art and Design is a creative, enjoyable and potentially mind-expanding area of study. It encourages manual dexterity and the refinement of motor skills through the use of different media and artistic techniques. Art offers the freedom for pupils to explore their own individual approach, allowing them to be imaginative and to find their own identity through creative expression. Every pupil an artist in their own right and should have the opportunity to achieve through their personal creative processes. It is a subject where they are never wrong… as long as they are creatively engaged.

Our art curriculum provides progression of skills, following a sequence which builds on previous learning. Our children will gain experience and competences in a broad range of formal elements of art, designed to boost their learning opportunities, enabling them to apply art and design across a range of subjects to be creative and solve problems.

 

The art progressions of skills are:

Making skills, generating ideas, formal elements, knowledge of artists and evaluating.

There are three key threads of learning which are taught and built upon in a progressive way across the curriculum as well as some stand-alone units.

These three key threads are: formal elements of art, art and design skills and sculpture.

At St. Pancras we use the Kapow’s art scheme of work but adapt and personalise where needed to provide a broad and balanced and integrated art and design curriculum https://www.kapowprimary.com/

For further information, please contact admin@st-pancras.suffolk.sch.uk

FAO Ms Hughes

St. Pancras Catholic Primary School

Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

This statement outlines: the intent and rational behind our Art and Design curriculum, how we deliver it and how we measure pupil progress.

Intent

At St. Pancras, we aim to inspire pupils and develop their confidence to experiment and invent their own works of art.

Our art and design curriculum utilises the Kapow Primary’s Art and Design scheme of work. The scheme is written by experts in their field and designed to give pupils every opportunity to develop their ability, nurture their talent and interests, express their ideas and thoughts about the world, as well as learning about the rich heritage and culture of the British Isles and beyond.

Our curriculum is designed to meet the National curriculum end of key stage attainment targets and has been written to fully cover the National Society for Education in Art and Design’s progression competencies.

We are looking forward to beginning our Artsmark journey, helping to inspire our children to create experience and participate in a great selection of arts and culture.

Implementation

As our curriculum is delivered across our school, it takes the intent of learning and translates it into a progressive and effective curriculum.

The scheme we follow has four strands which run through it and are revisited at a deeper level in every unit and in each progressive year group:

  • Making
  • Formal Elements (line, shape, tone, texture, pattern, colour)
  • Knowledge of Artists
  • Evaluating

In the Art and Design skills and the Formal Elements of Art units, pupils have the opportunity to learn and practise skills discretely. The knowledge and skills from these units are then applied throughout the other units in the scheme. Key skills are revisited again and again with increasing complexity, in a spiral curriculum model. This allows pupils to revise and build on their previous learning.

Our Curriculum Overview shows which of our units cover each of the National Curriculum attainment targets as well as each of the strands.

Our [Kapow scheme] Progression of Skills document shows the skills that are taught within each year group and how these skills develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage.

Our curriculum develops pupil’s knowledge and understanding of key artists and art movements through the Every Picture Tells a Story units and links to artists through practical work. The units scaffold and support essential and age-appropriate sequenced learning and are often adapted by the teacher to form cross curricular links. Creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded into our units, supporting students in learning how to make their own creative choices and decisions, so that their art outcomes, whilst still being knowledge-rich, are unique and personal to the pupil.

Lessons are always practical in nature and encourage experimental and exploratory learning with Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils using sketchbooks to document their ideas. Scaffolded guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupil’s learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers are available for each unit, to support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.

Art unit of approximately six weeks, are taught every other half term (alternating with D.T.). Each teacher has chosen and adapted their art focus to compliment other subjects or seasonal themes, where possible. We have a mixture of weekly and blocked Art, depending on what best suits the subject.

We have enjoyed entering art competitions, such as creating a Nativity scene and joining a primary school collective to highlight the plight of wild animals and promote sustainable materials. We are about to embark on our Artsmark journey

*See also: St. Pancras Art Overview.

Impact

The scheme we use has been designed to involve children in their evaluation, dialogue and decision making about the quality of their outcomes and the improvements they need to make. Our classes have begun take part in regular discussions and decision-making processes. As familiarity of the scheme’s contents grows (we began the scheme: September 2021), children will not only know facts and key information about art, but they will be able to talk confidently about their own learning journey, have higher metacognitive skills and have a growing understanding of how to improve.

The impact of our scheme can be constantly monitored and adapted, through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Each lesson includes guidance to support staff in assessing pupils against the learning objectives, examples and each unit has a unit quiz, knowledge catchers which may be used at the start and/or the end of the unit and a record of attainment is made.

After the implementation of our Kapow Primary art and design scheme, pupils should leave primary school equipped with a range of techniques, increased depth and breadth of their cultural capital, confidence and creativity to form a strong foundation for their art and design learning at Key Stage 3 and beyond.

Our expectation of the scheme is that children will:

  • Produce creative work, exploring and recording their ideas and experiences.
  • Be proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.
  • Evaluate and analyse creative woks using subject-specific language.
  • Know about great artists and the historical and cultural development of their art.
  • Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National Curriculum for Art and design.

Assessment

During unit, teachers record their assessments for learning against each unit’s success criteria. Children are involved in their assessment process by explaining and/or demonstrating their understanding, thought processes, choices and progression in response to their learning. By a combination of verbal discussion, sketch book evidence and finished piece teachers assess how far each child has progressed, both personally and against the success criteria.

Children’s books are not marked, as they are the children’s, to work through their ideas and challenges as they see fit, without external judgement. The sketch book is a tool to help improve the children’s skills and knowledge base, where they may practise and refer back to and improve their understanding and work.