Art

Intent: “Know the Way”

·      Deliver a creative curriculum so that pupils and teachers can enjoy the creative journey and produce creative outcomes.

·      Provide a knowledge-rich curriculum, so pupils will learn a wide range of skills, developing understanding and showing clear progression. The knowledge and understanding pupils we build will go beyond technical, factual knowledge.

·      Provide ideas, inspiration and techniques to enable children to explore a wide variety of media in drawing, sketchbooks, sculpture, painting, printmaking, and design.

The curriculum balances declarative knowledge with experiential knowledge, building self-knowledge and nurturing traits in learners which will hold them in good stead whichever direction their learning takes them. Learning is built through a weaving and layering and revisiting of experiences allowing growth.  We will give pupils lots of different kinds of opportunities and experiences (media, techniques, approaches, artists), all underpinned by creative use of drawing and sketchbooks. We aim for every teacher to understand the larger structure and relevance of what comes before and after, and that every child has the opportunity to find the elements of art, craft & design which resonate for them.

Implementation: “Show the Way”

·         AccessArt believes all children have a right to an excellent and rigorous art education

·         Basic skills are introduced and then built upon, including drawing, printmaking, sketchbooks, painting and making. Skills are revisited and the use of ongoing sketchbook work underpins this process.

·         AccessArt believes in fostering an open-ended exploration of creativity. The resources do not follow prescriptive outcomes, instead the role of the teacher is to introduce key skills, materials and ideas to the pupils in such a way that each pupil can then explore his or her own creativity.

·         By creating a safe and nurturing environment, pupils are encouraged to take creative risks and to learn from the journey, rather than head towards a pre-defined end result.

·         The resources included are suitable for pupils of all abilities, and can be confidently delivered by specialist and non-specialist teachers a like.

The curriculum is in the form of a series of related Pathways which follow tested pedagogical approaches and help build teacher understanding in addition to providing progressive projects. Each year the children complete a project from each of the following pathways:

·         Drawing and sketch books

·         Surface and Colour

·         Working in 3D

Each pathway forms a journey, for both teacher and pupil. Each pathway follows a particular format which promotes excellent teaching & learning:

·           Materials: Activity: Crit / Reflection

·         Challenge or Brief: Artist: Activity: Crit / Reflection

Each pathway provides a choice of activity to suit each class and each teacher’s skills and confidence.  The plan for each year builds upon previous skills learnt.

Rhythm: Balancing Practice with Opportunity

Creativity likes rhythm – we respond best as creative beings when we have space and time to explore and respond. The Pathways follow a repeated rhythm, providing lots of time to balance repeated practice with new experiences, quiet approaches with active and dynamic activities, time to work alone with collaborative and community based activities… all geared to create energy and momentum throughout the year

Diverse & Contemporary Artists, Designers, Craftspeople

The AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum is supported by a series of “Talking Points” resources, carefully curated to introduce teachers and pupils to a wide variety of artists, designers and craftspeople from across the world. We also juxtapose contemporary artists with more traditional artists.  We study artists, designers and craftspeople not so we can make copies or pastiches of their style, but so we can learn from the way they see the world.

The “split” ACCESSART curriculum

Art is taught in each term in each year group alternating with Design and Technology. During the “Non-Art” half terms we encourage teachers to continue the “Drawing Journey” with simple drawing exercises through the with short  2 x 10 minutes a week activities provided by the scheme to  help ensure the continuation of sketchbook and drawing skill development.

Sketch Books

The use of sketch books is essential to support all the pathways from Reception to Year 6. 

Assessment

There are no national standards in Primary Art and Design, so we advocate gentle, ongoing assessment based upon lots of conversation, to discover intention and understanding, as well as looking at outcomes of the journey and end result.  Creativity can be fragile – so we tread with care.  Each learning pathway contains suggested “I Can…” statements which can are used to check understanding.

Impact: “Grow the Way”