Aims

​

Aims The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

1. Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences

2. Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques

3. Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design

4. Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

 

It is our intention that children will become passionate and knowledgeable about Art by learning through experiences as outlined in the progression of skills document and the detailed art planning across all year groups. We recognise how and when Cognitive Load Theory, and Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, can make learning more efficient by employing teaching and learning methods that reflect this. We endeavour to provide children with well-chosen opportunities to create: excitement, creativity, critical thinking, make decisions and gain distinctive knowledge of how art explains the world.  Opportunities are planned to develop children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, including through our school GRACE values.

 

Implementation

 

In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in Art, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Our teaching of Art takes into account how children learn, building on previous knowledge and skills taught through detailed planning and assessment.

 

The teaching and implementation of the Art and Design Curriculum at Withycombe Raleigh Primary School is based on the National Curriculum and linked to topics to ensure a well-structured approach to this creative subject. The children are taught Art as part of their termly or half termly topic work. Areas covered include sculpture, mosaics, printing, painting, textiles and the study of a range of artists. More detail can be found in our Art progression of knowledge and skillls document, our long term plan and year group planning. The work of famous local, national and international artists are explored to enhance the children's learning. The school has created an online gallery celebrating art as part of our Hope For Kibera Project.

 

At WRPS we believe that children’s learning in Art builds upon pupils’ prior knowledge, understanding and skills over time.  Prior knowledge gained in Art helps children comprehend new material taught, in turn enabling them to transfer this knowledge between contexts. This is set out in our progression of knowledge and skills document.

 

Clear expectation around what pupils will know and are able to do with their Art knowledge and skills are identified including ‘end points’ for the units of Art taught.

 

Teachers use highly effective modelling and ‘assessment for learning’ opportunities, including effective, differentiated questioning.  Pupils are regularly given the opportunity for self / peer review, informing teachers’ planning, preparation, differentiation and ability to address misconceptions. Children are given clear success criteria in order to achieve learning objectives.  

 

Art lessons at WRPS utilises the Ten Principles of Instruction, as suggested by Rosenshine (2010). The four strands (Reviewing Material, Questioning, Explaining and Modelling and Practising) help children to avoid overload of their short-term memories and to make connections to their prior learning. Whenever possible and suitable, our Art lessons begin a ‘review’ activity which encourages children to retrieve and recall their prior skills knowledge and/or vocabulary. Teachers have autonomy over this and carefully link the review task to the learning intention and desired outcome for the lesson. These well-thought-out reviews, designed by teachers, allow children to draw upon previous successes and content (whether in the previous lesson, the previous week, the previous term or the previous year), preparing them for what they are about to learn or the skill that they are about to develop. 

 

Principals of Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller et. Al., 2011) are used to support children in their ability to know more and remember more, making learning more efficient by using teaching and learning methods which:

• Measuring and reviewing existing knowledge and confidence and adapting teaching accordingly.

• Reducing the ‘problem space’ by breaking problems down into parts, and by using partially completed problems and worked examples.

• Extending the capacity of working memory by using both visual and auditory channels. Merging together multiple sources of visual information whenever possible.

• Identifies which knowledge is most significant – for example, the use of knowledge organisers which detail some key information, dates and key vocabulary (vocab is taught explicitly throughout each unit).

• Ensuring that pupils have sufficient time to repeat and practise so that knowledge is remembered and stored in their long-term memory.  ‘Learning is defined as an alteration in long-term memory.  If nothing has altered in long-term memory, nothing has been learned’ (Sweller et al 2011)

 

We ensure that the status and importance of Art as a subject is recognised and that links to the wider curriculum are made. In order to achieve this, children are provided with opportunities to use art through all subjects in the curriculum. This is outlined in the Art Long term plan which ensures Art is woven throughout all topics.

 

Effective use of educational visits and visitors are planned to enrich and enhance the pupils’ learning experiences within the Art curriculum.  We recognise that knowledge becomes more meaningful when it becomes personal. Educational, immersive displays help to create a rich learning environment for each Art focus.

 

Subject Leads and their supporting team deliver effective CPD in staff meetings and provide standardisation opportunities to ensure that high levels of confidence and knowledge are maintained within the staff.

​

Impact

​

The impact of quality first teaching in Art will foster a love and enthusiasm for the subject.

 

Children are able to review their successes in achieving the lesson objectives and are actively encouraged to identify their own areas of development.

 

Knowledge and skills will have developed progressively to not only enable them to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum, but to prepare pupils to become competent Artists in secondary education.

 

A measure of the impact of the teaching and learning in Art is to ensure that children at WRPS are equipped with Art skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future. 

 

We aim for children to have thoroughly enjoyed and be enthusiastic in their learning about Art – evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice. 

 

We aim that children make outstanding progress over time from their own starting points and that teachers endeavour to clearly know and assess what children have learnt, including securely, and what might need to be reviewed or re-taught as they progress.

 

Ongoing assessments take place throughout the year. Teachers use this information to inform future lessons; ensuring children are supported and challenged appropriately. This data is analysed on a termly basis to inform and address any trends or gaps in attainment.

​

​

​

​