Art & Design Vision Statement

Intent

At St Francis of Assisi, we believe that art is a vital part of children’s education and has a significant and valuable role in the taught curriculum, as well as the enrichment opportunities we offer our pupils. The art curriculum will develop children’s critical abilities and understanding of their own and others’ cultural heritages through studying a diverse range of artists. We want our children to be creative and engaged, with the knowledge and the skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art and design. They should be critical thinkers and develop a deeper understanding of the subject as well as art forms that have shaped our history and culture.

Our Art and Design Curriculum gives opportunities for children to express their creative imagination as well as practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting, printing, textiles, collage and sculpture.

Implementation

In Art and Design, as elsewhere in the curriculum, we follow the St Francis Teaching Backwards approach which is underpinned by ‘Our Creative Curriculum’ overview which in itself is based on evidence from cognitive science. Where possible, art is taught through year group topics. Skills are often taught discretely, but these usually link back to the topics at the end of a series of work.

Our pupils should be able to organise their knowledge, skills and understanding around the following key concepts:

• Develop ideas 
• Master techniques 
• Take inspiration from the greats 

These key concepts underpin learning in each milestone. This enables pupils to reinforce and build upon prior learning, make connections and develop subject specific language. 

Impact

Through the explicit teaching of the Art skills, both the teachers and the pupils assess their learning continuously throughout the lesson. Rubrics are often used to share learning objectives with pupils, providing them with choice and challenge, and the opportunity to assess their learning against an agreed set of criteria. Artistic displays in classrooms and around the communal areas of the school showcase children’s work. Sketchbooks are used continually and are passed up to the next class at the end of the year, progress is very visual. In addition, as a school we hold an annual art exhibition that is part of the Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios event, giving families and members of the local community the opportunity to come and see the work that the children have done. It is an excellent way to give the children a sense of pride and ownership of their work. We hope that giving the children these experiences will give them a desire to take their artistic experience beyond school.

For the Art & Design Long Vision Statement, please click on the link below.