Amberley Primary School

Art Teaching and Learning Profile

Curriculum Intent

At Amberley we believe that all pupils can achieve in Art and Design; that high-quality Art lessons will inspire children to think innovatively and develop creative procedural understanding. Our Art curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work and digital art and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. Children will be introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists. The skills they acquire are applied to their cross-curricular topics, allowing children to use their art skills to reflect on and explore topics in greater depth. It is paramount that art work be purposeful; be this as a means of expression or to explore the styles of other artists that inspire our own work. Pupils should be clear what the intended outcomes are and have a means to measure their own work against this. In Art, children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can make changes and develop their mastery of Art and Design techniques.

As detailed in our overall curriculum intent, the teaching of Art and Design at Amberley embraces all three of our core values: nurturing, innovation and aspiration. By focussing on these three key priorities, at the heart of our curriculum, we believe our children will be ready to successfully meet the challenges of the next stages of their education.

Curriculum Implementation

At Amberley Primary School we provide a rich environment in which we encourage and value creativity.  Art is a hands on activity that needs the teacher to be directly involved with the children in the lesson; to set the task, impart knowledge, to lead activities, to monitor and develop the children’s progress, to encourage development and to ensure that each child reaches an appropriate standard.

All teachers plan sequences of lessons in Art and Design based on objectives specific to their year group and select a context of which the objectives are taught linking learning to current topics.  These learning objectives build on prior learning and develop art skills focusing on the six fundamental elements of Art and Design.

1. Drawing.
2. Painting
3. Printing
4. Collage/textiles
5. Sculpture, to include clay work
6. Digital media

Children explore colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space when practising these fundamental elements, developing their creativity and mastery of techniques. Children of all abilities have opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge in each unit and through planned progression, we offer them increasing challenge, as they move up through school.

Foundation Stage

At Amberley Primary School within the Foundation Stage we run continuous provision, where children have free access to all resources and opportunities, allowing them to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding at their own pace and interest. We relate the creative development of the children to the points set out in the Foundation Stage Profile, as well as the age related expectations in Development Matters which underpin the curriculum planning for children from birth to five. The children’s learning includes: art, music, dance, role-play and imaginative play. The range of experiences, encourages children to make connections between one area of learning and another and so extends their understanding.

Key Stage 1 and 2

Key Stage 1

Pupils are taught;

•          to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products
•          to use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
•          to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form     and space
•          about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work.

Key Stage 2

Pupils are taught to develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.

Our pupils are taught:

•          to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
•          to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay]
•          about great artists, architects and designers in history.

At Amberley, we have an Art’s enrichment week, during the Autumn term, where children have the opportunity to participate in art activities, over an extended period of time, on a whole school theme. This year was ‘The Natural world.’  Local artists and crafts people work in collaboration with our pupils and staff to provide a memorable experience that develops  skill, children’s understanding of the diverse roles and functions of art and design in the locality and the wider world.

Amberley is fortunate to also have a termly Crafty Kids’s club led by L Hoey, a qualified Art & Design Teacher, who provides extra-curricular opportunities for pupils to further master skills and techniques and experiment with specialised art media.

Curriculum Impact

Our Art Curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes;
• A celebration of learning for each term which demonstrates progression across the school;
• Pupil discussions about their learning; which includes discussion of their thoughts, ideas, processing and evaluations of work

Our children will be become creative learners, who have knowledge of both local artists and the great artists of the world. Creativity and innovation will be celebrated and children will become skilled at editing and improving the pieces they have created. As teachers, there will be an emphasis placed on individuality and children will be given the freedom to explore art using their imagination. Children will have embedded the key art and design skills needed to allow them to produce inventive pieces of art.  

Art Enrichment week 16-20 October 2023 - 'Black History Month.'

In our Arts Enrichment week we have been talking about Black History and celebrating the inspirational legacy of black artists from around the world.

Nursery- Alma Thomas - The Queen of Colour - collage work

Reception - Gee's Bend - African-American - quiltmaking/paper craft

Year 1 - Vanley Burke - British Jamaican - digital/collage

Year 2 - Yayoi Kusama - Japanese - painter/sculptor

Year 3 - Clementine Hunter - Louisiana Creole - oil painting

Year 4- Lois Mailou Jones - African-American - watercolours

Year 5- Jean Michel Basquiat - American/Haitian/Puerto Rican - oil pastels

Year 6- Stephen Wiltshire - British - line drawing

Have a look at what we have been up to!

Art Week - Black History Month