Art and Design

INTENT

We aim to help children develop a love of art and design and find challenge, enjoyment and satisfaction in their creativity. We plan to provide children with a variety of experiences where both their imagination and technical skills can be developed. Our aim is to create a safe and inspiring learning environment where children enjoy exploring their own creativity and develop an understanding, knowledge and appreciation of art from different cultures and periods of history.  We want the children to gain a feeling of creative freedom and recognise that the journey is often more valuable than the final piece.

IMPLEMENTATION

At Stanley Park Junior School, we help children to develop their skills by learning to improve their use of; Line, tone, colour, form, composition and depth. We focus on these 5 formal elements across all year groups. In each project, teachers focus on progressing the relevant skills and techniques for the medium the children are working with. Children have the opportunity to experiment and explore by improving their skills in drawing, collage, painting, mixed media, printing, model making and pottery

The children study art history, focussing on the work of relevant contemporary and historical artists, craft makers and designers. We increase children's awareness of art history from our own country as well as others. Including some of the historical and cultural development of their art forms, to help children understand the context of the work they see. We inspire children to respond creatively to the world around them and to develop an understanding of our cultural heritage. Children in the world today learn as much through visual images as they do through words. The understanding and use of visually communicated information, gathered from a wide range of sources, has become a basic skill. 

There is evidence of a record of artists and designers studied to date, in the children’s sketchbooks. To see a full list the artists, craft makers and designers to include in plans, please scroll down to the bottom of the Art and Design curriculum ladder.

At SPJS, we help children develop visual literacy; the language and ability to interpret art and design confidently. Pupils need to learn that pictures and symbols can have several meanings and that different interpretations of them are possible and valid in a multicultural world. Every child has a sketchbook where they record most of their progress and end of project evaluations, usually alongside photographs, of final pieces produced.

In these evaluation lessons, teachers may show children an example of how they can write about the progress they have made in a certain formal element eg. Colour. For example; In painting, having learnt how to mix and apply colours, next they could have made progress, in the same medium, by learning how to represent form, using colour. As part of the end of project evaluation, teachers may lead children in understanding key vocabulary, relating to the skills they have learnt. Key words should be visible, on a slide or on the white board, for the children to use in their written reflections.

IMPACT

We want to increase children's awareness of the works of artists, craft makers and designers from our own country as well as others and to understand some of the historical and cultural development of their art forms. There will be evidence  of artists and designers studied to date, in the children’s sketchbooks, which can be returned to throughoput the year, and their jourey through SPJS. To see a full list the artists, craft makers and designers to include in plans, please scroll down to the bottom of the Art and Design curriculum ladder.

When children leave SPJS they will have an appreciation of art within dofferent aspects of the artistic world. Children will feel confident to express themselves through art and develop their own creative nature. We hope that children will appply this boraders, creative thinking to other aspects of teh curriculum. 

Budding artists can further explore specific skills and techniques in their optional homework projects. See project guidance for further details.

Subject Leader: Shannon Kelly

If you would like more information about how this subject is taught, please contact Miss Kelly by emailing the school office at office@spjs.org