Art – Miss Hill
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
Vincent van Gogh
How is the content chosen?
At Newton Hal Infants’ School we encourage children to be themselves and be unique. They are free to experiment and express their own personality, with no limitations or expectations. This enables children to embed their own learning through experience and develop their own techniques. The content is therefore chosen to incorporate significant artists, designers and craft makers from history, our local area, other countries and other cultures. We do make effective links with key themes in other areas of the curriculum, reflect expectations in the National Curriculum programmes of study and Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, to engage the children. With being part of a strong, local community, links may also be chosen based upon visiting and local artists, events and exhibitions which are taking place in the area.
How do we ensure progression of knowledge and skills?
We are fortunate to have specialist teachers, who couple subject-specific knowledge, with passion for their subjects. We have communicated and worked collaboratively with outside subject-specialists to ensure that we offer excellent progression throughout our school. As a result we have worked together to make long term, medium term and detailed short term planning. This ensures sequenced and appropriate content for specific year groups, as well as a build-up of knowledge and skills throughout our school. Within these documents there are also opportunities for differentiation and adaptations, in order to meet the needs of all our children and personal cohort to our school.
How is the subject taught?
At Newton Hall Infants’ School Art and Design is taught through planned learning opportunities for children to use and explore a wide range of different media. They have repeated experiences throughout school of exploring with paint, clay, textiles, sculpture, drawing, printing and collage. This enables the children to develop and progress their individual preferences and adapt their personal techniques
Art and Design is accessible to the children at all times. It may be an extension activity or whole class project, left open for individual additions, or an area filled with various man made or natural materials to explore.
In Key Sage 1, the children will face three separate Art topics, all covering different objectives taken from the National Curriculum. These can be taught as a weekly session, or in a block to help embed learning and development of particular skills or techniques. Modelling is used initially by class teachers to clarify opportunities to the children. Children are then given plentiful opportunities to encourage, build upon and apply their own skills and preferences in order to produce a piece of work which showcases what they have learnt.
Sketch books are used in each class to record and develop skills throughout the year and use the language associated with the arts. These sketchbooks travel through school with the children as a working document of what they have discovered and how they have evolved.
There are links and opportunities that arise from other subject areas and these are incorporated where possible and appropriate.
How is Art and Design taught in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)?
Planning and teaching in EYFS is similar to that in Key Stage 1. The children are given a wide range of tools and mediums and encouraged to explore. They are shown a specific set of skills and knowledge appropriate to their age, to then interoperate and adapt to be their own. This is often beyond the expectations that are set out in the end of year Early Learning Goals, in order to prepare them for our KS1 curriculum.
As well as topic work and the teaching of valuable skills and knowledge, children in EYFS are given the opportunity to continually practise and embed their skills through the areas of provision set up in the indoor and outdoor learning environments.
How do we know children are making progress?
Ongoing assessments of the children’s knowledge and skills are observed daily by the class teacher. Misconceptions are addressed and next steps carefully planned. Children’s outcomes are compared to the subject specific skills and knowledge documents, as well as the year group expectations from the National Curriculum. Senior leaders and subject leaders gather an overview of children’s learning and outcomes through monitoring activities. Regular assessments are collated for children in EYFS and Key Stage 1 which are used to plan appropriate next steps for their future learning, as well as provide an overview of learning within a subject area across the whole school.
Impact of our Art and Design teaching
At Newton Hall Infants’ School we aim to aid children to express themselves in a creative and imaginative manner. We encourage individuality to flow through the use of a wide range of medium and techniques. Through a skills-based curriculum, we incorporate the creative artists and architects that have formed and decorated the world around us.
