Intent

“The important thing is to create.” - Pablo Picasso

At Healey, we believe that the arts are vital in the development for all learners regardless of age, nationality, faith or background and are entitled to access opportunities to develop imagination and creative thinking through high-quality art and design education in an inspiring environment. Art and Design provides children with the opportunities to develop and extend skills and gives the opportunity to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas.

Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge 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 should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design.  They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

The National Curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all children: 

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences 

• become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques 

• evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design 

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

Implementation

The teaching and implementation of the Art and Design Curriculum at Healey is based on the National Curriculum which leads to a well-structured approach to this creative subject.

Through high-quality teaching of Art we aim to develop our children’s ability to learn with confidence through a broad and balanced curriculum. Our children learn the skills of drawing, colour, texture, 3D work, printing and pattern.  During Art sessions we concentrate on developing children’s ability to create images and 3D forms, experiment with a wide range of different media to understand their potential and use art as a medium to give expression of their world.  

Children will be introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists. The skills they acquire are applied to their cross-curricular topics, allowing children to use their art skills to reflect on and explore topics in greater depth; for example by sketching historical images in detail, researching geographical locations to support their work on landscape painting or using art as a medium to express emotion and thought to enhance their personal, social and emotional development. Also, many areas of art link with mathematical ideas of shape and space; for example, when printing repeating patterns and designs and thinking about 3D shapes to support structures. It is paramount that artwork be purposeful; be this as a means of expression or to explore the styles of other artists that inspire our own work.

Impact

Art and Design provides children with the opportunities to develop and extend skills and an opportunity to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas. Through high-quality art and design education children should be engaged, inspired and challenged, and equipped with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As children progress through school, they should be able to evaluate and think critically and develop a greater understanding of art and design and make progress in their skills and techniques. Through our Art and Design curriculum children will achieve age related expectations in the subject at the end of their cohort year and will retain knowledge about their focus artists for each unit of work. Also, children will understand what being in ‘artist’ means. Furthermore, the range and quality of art resources will lead to improvements in the quality of the artwork the pupils are able to produce.

Art in the Early Years

In Early Years the children follow the Expressive Arts & Design strand of the Early Years curriculum. Pupils explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities.  

They have opportunities to learn to:

• Explore the textures, movement, feel and look of different media and materials

• Respond to a range of media and materials, develop their understanding of them in order to manipulate and create different effects.

• Use different media and materials to express their own ideas

• Explore colour and use for a particular purpose

• Develop skills to use simple tools and techniques competently and appropriately

• Select appropriate media and techniques and adapt their work where necessary

The Lead Teacher for Art is Miss Chittenden.