Why is Art important?
Art education has been proven to have remarkable impacts on academic, social, and emotional outcomes, helping us develop empathy as we learn more about societies, cultures and history.
Engagement with art helps us stretch our minds beyond the boundaries of the printed text or the rules of what is provable.
Through art, we learn to express ourselves confidently and creatively.
Art develops pupils’ handling, moving and fine motor control skills
Learning through art develops pupils’ language skills, social skills, decision-making and risk-taking.
Art develops curiosity, teaching pupils to observe the world thoroughly and carefully.
Pupils connect with their own culture, as well as with the wider world, through art.
Art creates opportunities to explore different materials and develop their own ideas of how to use them effectively
Art allows pupils to express their feelings and ideas, both as a means of self-expression and to communicate with others.
Art helps pupils to begin to develop an understanding of how it reflects and shapes our society contributing to a nation’s culture, creativity and wealth.
Art engages, inspires and challenges pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment and invent
Art at Landewednack
We strive to ensure our children develop the key characteristics of artists:
The ability to use visual language skilfully and convincingly. for example, line, shape, pattern, colour, texture.
• The ability to communicate fluently in visual and tactile form.
• The ability to draw confidently and adventurously from observation, memory and imagination.
• The ability to explore and invent marks, develop and deconstruct ideas and communicate perceptively and powerfully through purposeful drawing in 2D, 3D or digital media.
• An impressive knowledge and understanding of other artists, craft makers and designers.
• The ability to think and act like creative practitioners by using their knowledge and understanding to inform, inspire and interpret ideas, observations and feelings.
• Independence, initiative and originality which they can use to develop their creativity.
• The ability to select and use materials, processes and techniques skilfully and inventively to realise intentions and capitalise on the unexpected.
• The ability to reflect on, analyse and critically evaluate their own work and that of others.
At Landewednack, children develop as artists through gaining a combination of subject knowledge and skills.
Art is taught both through specific ‘Skills Development Tasks’ and through our ‘Learning Means the World’ thematic units which enables our children to learn from other artists and artwork and to apply and develop their own skills.
We know the importance of immersing our children in real life art and plan for visits and visitors. We use technology to enhance learning for example, using AR to ‘visit’ famous galleries and explore famous works of art from around the world.
What do we learn in Art?
In art, we learn about the mediums of collage, textiles, photography, drawing, painting, 3D form and sculpture, as well as mixed media.
We learn about a range of artists including:
Jack Kirby
Julie Taymor
Romero Britto
Jackson Pollock
Pietro D’Angelo
Christy Brown
Ivan Aivazovsky
Cesar Manrique
Theresa Elvin
as well as many local artists.
Progression
The Skills Ladder acts as an incremental model for skills acquisition and provides a benchmark for each year group, with teachers using the skills statements as a model for progression throughout the school. Growing in complexity and demand across Key Stages 1 and 2, the Skills Ladder enables our children to make good progress in their learning:
Click below for our art skills progression:
'Knowledge Building' ensures breadth and greater depth of learning within a subject. Based on six distinct learning pillars, the knowledge builds on (EYFS, KS1, LKS2 and UKS2), using progressive cognitive blocks, linked to each pillar. These are then further applied to each art theme in the form of knowledge statements that increase in complexity through the phase.
The Knowledge Building Pillars form a robust model of progression for knowledge and understanding, helping pupils to assimilate, synthesise and apply their learning within different art contexts. This also means that concepts are cumulatively built upon.
See the knowledge pillars for 'art' below:
To ensure full coverage and progression for each year group, we have a rolling programme which contains themed units with concepts that are repeated and deepened, as well as discrete art skills lessons that build over time. This approach helps children to retain knowledge and build on their prior learning.
We plan for enrichment days, visits and visitors and work inside and outside the classroom.
As well as discrete art lessons, through many of our LMTW curriculum topics, art is closely linked to many other subjects, as we recognise that the inter-connected relationship between art, culture and other disciplines helps to develop our understanding of the world around us.
Assessment and Recall
We use 'Kahoot' quizzes, end of unit tasks and artwork for assessment as well as ‘Time Machine’ questions to ensure knowledge is remembered and to ensure prior learning is linked to new. 'Time Machine' enables pupils to travel through time to revisit prior learning and indicates subsequent linked learning that will take place in the next learning sequence. Children record art in ‘sketchbooks’ which is referred to for future inspiration.
Impact of Art and Design
EYFS
Our aim in teaching art in the EYFS is to give pupils a grounding in some basic techniques and use of tools, whilst encouraging them to be as imaginative and creative as possible. Pupils will know what a paint brush, easel and palette are by the end of this phase and some pupils will be starting to use these tools with increasing dexterity. Pupils will be able to name some primary and secondary colours and select the most suitable ones for their artwork. Pupils will be able to spot patterns and incorporate some they have seen within their own work. Pupils will have been made aware that art can be found in various forms everywhere; they will be able to talk about what they see in simple terms and express whether they like or dislike artwork, knowing that there is no right or wrong answer and that we can all have different preferences. Pupils in the EYFS will have been introduced to well-known artists, have had the opportunity to study their work and use this as inspiration for their own.
Key Stage 1
Our aim in teaching art in KS1 is to encourage the pupils to become more aware of the techniques and tools they are using and recognise that art can be created in many different ways and from a range of materials. In this phase, pupils will have embedded their skills in how to use certain tools, such as holding a paintbrush correctly and picking appropriate colours. They will have developed their drawing skills further by working with lighter and darker shades, producing them, either through increased pressure when using a pencil, or by mixing colours together. They will have also begun to cultivate their techniques in using clay for sculpting, and using tools such as rollers, ink and printing plates in printing. Vocabulary such as ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ colours, ‘tints’ and ‘shade’ will be understood by pupils. By the end of this phase, pupils will know that some artists create art with things other than their hands, such as the work of Christy Brown, and that disability does not prevent people from becoming artists. They will also know that artists can use their environment to inspire their work, for example César Manrique uses the windy landscape of Lanzarote and Monet was inspired by the sea. Through Manrique’s art, pupils will have more awareness that art can be made from lots of different things, not just paper, pencils and paint.
Lower Key Stage 2
Our aim in teaching art in LKS2 is to deepen their awareness of art as an identifying feature of different cultures and religions, as well as building on techniques and use of tools from KS1. In this phase, pupils will be able to choose from a range of paintbrushes and understand how varying brush sizes can make an impact on what a painting looks like. They will also be able to vary the lines they use when drawing buildings, portraits and landscapes to give their work greater impact. As well as using lines more effectively, pupils will have been introduced to the concept that artists, specifically painters and illustrators, can follow rules to guide their work, for example, the ‘rule of thirds’ for landscapes. The techniques used in sculpting with clay will have been improved by using ‘slip’ to make sculptures stronger and using papier mache as another tool for sculpting 3D forms.
In this phase, art as an identifying feature of culture and religion appear regularly. Pupils will be aware of the use of mandalas in Buddhism and geometric patterns that appear in Islamic art. In contrast, they should understand the significance of tattooing as an art form in Central America and Mexico during the Mayan period and how the comic book artwork of Jack Kirby and his Marvel characters has had a cultural impact. In Lightning Speed, pupils will have looked at the work of Gutenberg and how printing is not only an artform but has many practical uses.
Upper Key Stage 2
Our aim in teaching art in UKS2 is to challenge pupils in their selection of tools and techniques so that their own work makes more of an impact, and in their understanding of how art can reflect culture and historical events. Throughout this phase, pupils will be able to draw upon the skills and techniques they have used to produce work that is effective and personalised. Pupils will expand their knowledge of colour through, not only mixing, but manipulating contrasting and complementary colours within their work. They will have created sculptures using more complex techniques with clay, such as slab work, and will have needed to delve deeper into their imaginations to create sculptures using small, everyday materials i.e. paper clips.
Pupils will be able to evaluate and critique art, not only produced by professional artists, but by themselves and their peers, giving intelligent and supportive feedback using a wide range of art and design vocabulary. Pupils will recognise when research is required when creating art of a certain style and be aware of the reasons why art is important, making links with historical and cultural events. By the end of this phase, pupils will be able to produce art using a wide range of techniques, select tools for specific purposes and have a developed sense of imagination, whilst being able to link work to a range of historical, social and cultural contexts.
