What we say about Art and Design at Dean Bank Primary School
Steven – Painting pictures is fun.
Jayden – Mixing and making new colours is fun.
Jessica – I like how you get to express yourself and show what you can do.
At Dean Bank Primary School, we value the importance of Art and Design as a vehicle for developing creativity, individual expression, independence, resilience, and self-reflection. It is important to the development of pupils’ well-being, appreciation of the world and understanding and empathy of others.
It is our intent to provide all children with the fundamental skills, techniques and knowledge needed to independently create their own unique drawings, paintings, sculptures, and crafts. We aim to give all children the confidence to express themselves through a range of chosen mediums.
Aims
Our aim is for Dean Bank children to explore and utilise a wider range of skills within Art and Design whilst at our school. By introducing six key areas of learning within our curriculum, we will introduce basic skills from the beginning and build on those skills each Year.
The idea behind this is so that our children feel they are building on prior knowledge and can identify their learning from previous years. From developing these skills through out each year group, our children will be able to focus on being more creative, using their own ideas and implementing skills and techniques. Our aim is to allow our children to develop a sense of independence, be more creative and to be more confident in their approach to Art and Design.
The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:
- 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.
Long Term Plans
Art Long Term Plan
EYFS Art Long Term Plan
Progression of Skills
Art and Design Progression of Skills and Techniques
Art and Design – Subject Association Progression
Children in Y5 have been comparing modern techniques for ceramics making to ancient vessels. They studied the work of Grayson Perry for inspiration when creating their own 3D work.
After looking at the animal sculptures created by Tom Claassen, children in Y2 have created their own 3D sculptures from papier mache.
Times tables club
Children in Y4 had great fun playing times tables splat to help them develop fluency of multiplication facts.
Early Years Art
Our art curriculum for Early Years enables children to explore and play with a wide range of materials and media and helps to develop their imagination and creativity. Here are some examples of children’s artwork, some of which is linked to their class texts.
Colour mixing
Children in Y4 have been studying the work of Henri Rousseau as a stimulus to develop their drawing and painting skills. They’ve been mixing different shades of green as they begin to develop their own ideas for artwork based on Rousseau’s paintings.
Sculpture
Children in Y6 have been studying the work of Barbara Hepworth. They spent some time developing their soap carving techniques with different tools before moving onto creating their own clay sculpture based on the ideas shapes and forms studied.
During the spring term, children across the school have been further developing their knowledge about a range of artists and exploring different techniques related to the work of these artists.
Children in Y1 are focusing on the colour wheel and mixing primary and secondary colours.
In Y2, children have been studying sculptures created by Tom Claassen. They have spent time developing techniques of basic observational drawing of animals and are now beginning to make their own 3D models.
Henri Rousseau’s paintings are the focus in Y4 as children begin to study his work and style.
Children in Y5 are enjoying developing techniques using clay in their work linked to Grayson Perry’s 3D ceramics.
Another 3D focus in Y6 is the study of Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures as the children begin to develop carving techniques using soap.
Studying Artists
As part of the art curriculum, children are given the opportunity to study a range of artists linked to the specific genre of art that they are focusing on. They spend time learning about the history and background of the artists, whilst also making observations about examples of their work and discussing their preferences and ideas about how their artwork has been created. Children are encouraged to record their observations and questions about the artists in their sketchbooks to help them to gather ideas and to practice skills and techniques used by the artists they’ve studied. The examples below show children’s initial thoughts about the work of Stephen Wiltshire (an architectural artist); artists from the Pop Art Movement; and Maia Walczak (a contemporary artist).
Art Club
Children in Y4-6 have made a great start at our art club using pastels to create these firework pictures.
Pop Art
Children in Y4 are learning about Andy Warhol as a famous figure in the American Pop Art movement. They enjoyed painting Pop Art portraits based on some of his work.
Half Term Sculpture Hunt Challenge
As part of the art curriculum, children have the opportunity to learn about sculpture and they enjoyed hunting for examples in the local area and further away during half term. The photos show a selection of these, including some shared by Margaryta that are in the Ukraine and Latvia.
Useful Websites
https://www.accessart.org.uk/
https://www.tate.org.uk/kids
Archive Curriculum Work
You can view our Archived Art & Design Curriculum work on our website.
