Art

We have used the National Curriculum as a basis to create an ambitious and engaging curriculum which allows all children to become passionate and confident artists. Leaders have planned a curriculum sequenced from the beginning of early years through to clearly defined endpoints at the end of Key Stage 2. During the design phase, leaders consulted widely with Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 colleagues to ensure that the curriculum prepared students well for Year 7 and beyond.

Students learn skills and processes (disciplinary knowledge) and key facts about artists (substantive knowledge). They use these to express themselves through the arts. During their time in the academy, they are exposed to artists from different backgrounds, faiths, cultures and ethnicities in order to understand art as a medium for self-expression.

Careful consideration given to building knowledge (schema theory) and sequencing (making links over time and between themes) guarantees that children have the opportunity to build rich and detailed knowledge.

Our art curriculum is not about reproducing the work of well-known artists. It is about providing children with opportunities to develop their understanding of artists and the methods they use. Students will develop their own critical thinking, creativity, and technical skills.

We talk about ‘windows and mirrors’ to ensure the art curriculum reflects the local context in which children live (mirror) and provides them with a ‘window’ into a diverse world.

To help students and teachers with this, we use our ‘Big Ideas’ as ‘golden threads’.

The ‘Big Ideas’ for art are:

colour
form
line
pattern

These ‘golden threads’ allow children to explore a theme across different units of work. The ‘Big Ideas’ allow children to create a schema of art knowledge that flows and progresses with them throughout their time at the academy.

Art is interwoven throughout the curriculum ensuring that children are given ample opportunities to build upon each skill year on year. To further enhance vocabulary and visual literacy, the art curriculum is planned to support our: science, history and geography curriculum with artists linked to these areas.

Through visual literacy, children gain an understanding of the arts and develop their language and communication skills. They learn how artists have shaped history and how the arts have contributed to the culture and economic growth of our nation and the wider world.

Art is taught through fine and applied arts, mixed media, and sculpture. However, the majority of teaching focuses on the development of line, colour, shape and space. This has been a conscious decision to ensure that students are best prepared for the next phase of their education.