Art

At Houghton-on-the-Hill Primary School, we have reviewed our Art Curriculum Offer, and, alongside the aim of the National Curriculum, have agreed the following vision for the subject in our school:

To develop an understanding of the breadth of arts and crafts, and how they link to our cultural heritage
To develop pupils’ understanding of how art and craft can be a response to historical or geographical contexts
To promote growth mindset and wellbeing through opportunities to experiment, make choices, practice mindfulness and express differences and opinions
To make links between visual arts and career pathways.
To develop pupils’ skills through close observation;
To develop skills in drawing, painting, sculpting and printing, with a range of materials;
To foster an emotional and spiritual response in pupils to the visual world.

The curriculum is organised into nine areas of study which are built upon and explored as a child moves through school. Some areas such as sketching, colour mixing, painting and using different media are covered every year with the skills building on what was learnt in the previous year. During their time at Houghton-on-the-Hill Primary, pupils can expect to explore and be taught skills in the following themes in Art:

Sketching
Colour Mixing
Painting
Printing
Textiles
Ceramics
Sculpture
Collage
Media

Our school Christian vision is ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ and, in art, children are encouraged to reflect on each other’s achievements to provide support and inspiration for one another. They are taught to treat each other’s work as you would want others to treat yours, especially when passing comment on others' artwork.

Art promotes our learning characteristics by:

Encouraging children to be curious about what they can create with different media, using different equipment and working in different styles.
Getting all children to participate in creating art and reminding them that practice makes perfect.
Encouraging problem-solving when children are faced with creating a final piece or challenged to create colour using only certain paints or equipment.
Fostering perseverance in learning new skills and putting these together to create artwork independently.
Reflecting on their artwork and that of others to consider where they are and what they need to do next to improve their learning further.

Art can be used cross-curricular to stimulate conversation about history, geography, music, maths and RE and links can be to art whilst in these lessons to form cross-curriculum links. Discussions on the accuracy of historical or religious portraits can be really beneficial for children who find reading information difficult and there are direct links between map drawing and shape work which can be explored.

All children should have the opportunity for their artwork to be on display, so others can see what they have achieved.

Teachers plan each area of study in art to be based around a do, then review the style structure. They allow children to have a go at new concepts before then modelling the skills needed to achieve the new learning. This is supported by looking at a range of artists who use the skills from the area being taught in their own work. The children then take on board what they have learnt through a series of self-and peer reviews to create a final piece.

The curriculum is designed in a way which means all pupils will have the opportunity to use lots of different media and learn about different styles of art. Children will be introduced to a variety of artists from different genders, backgrounds, cultures, styles and time periods. They will have the opportunity to look at a wide variety of artworks and share their thoughts and feelings on these with no judgement about these opinions.