Art
The Curriculum Gift that we give to our children...
To experience the process of ‘being’ an artist, working on canvas, using an easel, organising, using and caring for their tools and seeking out new inspiration and receiving feedback from their audience.
More Information about Art
Intent
Within the Federation, we have designed a curriculum for the arts with the intent that our children will, from the early years, develop a sense of creativity, self-expression, excellence and high attainment.   
 
We will deliver a curriculum that;  
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Expose’s all children to the arts, giving them a chance to experience, and participate in a range of creative activities and events.   
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Allows our children to experiment in a ‘safe’ environment where there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ results, thus, both self-expression and self-esteem may be enhanced. 
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Give’s children entitlement to a wide range of experiences in the arts as part of and in addition to the curriculum.   
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Give’s children the opportunity to explore, develop and communicate their personal, aesthetic response to experience.   
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Develops their knowledge and skills within a wide range of arts activities.  
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Introduces them to an appreciation of the arts that will last a lifetime.   
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Develops their appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage within the UK.   
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Helps them make personal interpretations of what they have experienced.   
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Encourages children to express themselves creatively using a wide range of media and situations.   
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The identity and characteristics of each school are very important to us. As such, the curriculum drivers for each school add a bespoke element to the Cornerstones scheme , further enhancing and personalising the curriculum. Click here to see our Art curriculum drivers.
Implementation
The curriculum is led and overseen by the Art curriculum leader, who will regularly monitor, evaluate and review Art teaching and learning, celebrating and sharing good practice. As with all subjects, the leader facilitates an in-depth subject inquiry with pupils, parents and staff. The outcome report can be found at the bottom of this page. Formative assessments will be integrated into every day Art teaching to ensure teachers have an in depth knowledge of the children’s learning and inform their next steps. Low stakes testing of Art will also inform termly assessments and allow for long term memory development and secure understanding of skills.
The National Curriculum 2014 and the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework 2017 provide the basis for our Art curriculum, which is then tailored to meet the learning and developmental needs of the children in our school. 
Teachers will plan Art using the newly developed progression of knowledge and skills documents which will allow children to build upon prior knowledge and understanding. All schools within the Federation use the Cornerstones Curriculum to ensure that planning both in terms of sequencing and progression in Art is appropriately challenging and robust.
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The art and design projects are well sequenced to provide a coherent subject scheme that develops children’s skills and knowledge of visual elements, art forms, artists and art movements. Projects are placed alongside other subject projects where there are opportunities for making meaningful connections. For example, Beautiful Botanicals has been placed in the same teaching sequence as the science project Plant Nutrition and Reproduction. Where possible, projects with similar materials are spaced out to have as little strain on resources as possible. For example, in Key Stage 1, clay work is taught in different terms. Seasons are also a consideration for the placement of art and design projects. For example, if children are required to work outdoors, these projects have been placed in either the latter part of the spring or summer term.
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What will pupils know?
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Our curriculum intent; what children in all ages across school will know is guided by the National Curriculum. Going further, knowledge and skills are sequenced and linked with other areas of learning to provide children with what we believe to be a spectacular science curriculum. Our progression documents can be found below. Our 'Big Ideas' across the curriculum are lenses in which we see and study each National Curriculum subject . Within each subject, each Big Idea is mapped to a more precise aspect. These aspects provide the necessary disciplinary knowledge for each subject. By organising learning in this way we are able to plan for deeper learning within each subject discipline whilst linking all learning in school to broader categories or Big Ideas. This also enables knowledge, skills and concepts to be constantly revisited, helping children to know more and remember more.
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By the end of Y6 we want children to know about:
Key Stage 1
In Key Stage 1, each autumn term begins with the colour project Mix It. The teaching of this project in Years 1 and 2 enables children to be introduced to and then revisit colour theory and provides plentiful opportunities for children to explore primary and secondary colours.
Year 1 begins by exploring themes directly related to the children themselves, such as their facial features, the surrounding natural world and their local community.
In Year 2, the projects expand children’s artistic horizons to study a more comprehensive range of artists, artistic movements and creative techniques.
Lower Key Stage 2
In Lower Key Stage 2, each autumn term begins with the colour project Contrast and Complement. In Years 3 and 4, the teaching of this project enables children to build on their previous understanding of colour and further develop their expertise by studying theory.
In Year 3, children expand their experiences to study a broader range of art forms, artists and genres. They also begin to study art from specific and diverse periods of history, including prehistoric pottery and Roman mosaics. Other genres studied in Year 3 build on previous techniques learned in Key Stage 1 and include more complex techniques in printmaking, drawing, painting and textiles.
In Year 4, children develop more specialised techniques in drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture. They explore ways in which ancient cultures have influenced art and crafts by studying, for example, medieval weaving techniques and the religious significance of Islamic art.
Upper Key Stage 2
In Upper Key Stage 2, each autumn term begins with the colour project Tints, Tones and Shades. Teaching these projects in Years 5 and 6 enables children to build on their previous understanding of colour theory and develop further expertise with colour by studying tonal variations and more complex colour charts.
In Year 5, children develop and combine more complex artistic techniques in a range of genres, including drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture. Children continue to build on their understanding of other historical periods and cultures by studying the ancient Chinese art form of taotie and the significance of the Expressionist movement.
In Year 6, children are encouraged to work more independently in projects like Environmental Artists and Distortion and Abstraction. Such projects require them to consider more conceptual representations of personal, environmental, social or political messaging. Children explore diversity in art by studying the projects Inuit and Trailblazers, Barrier Breakers.
Throughout the art and design scheme, there is complete coverage of all national curriculum programmes of study.
Impact 
Our art Curriculum will strive to ensure that: 
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All children leave with a love of art.
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Experience a broad, balanced arts curriculum, with an emphasis on the development of understanding and skills in art and design, creative dance, music and drama. 
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Experience the arts through other areas of the curriculum.   
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Be given a wide range of opportunities to express themselves creatively.   
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Be given the opportunity to develop skills and interests in out of hours learning.   
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Begin to develop an awareness of the emotional impact the arts have on themselves and on an audience. 
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Children leave the Federation having been exposed to a wide range of artists which have developed their knowledge in a range of areas
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Teachers have a deeper understanding of how to teach the skills of art through the use of detailed medium term plans.  
Would you like to know more about Art within the Federation?
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If you would like to see the topics we cover in Art, please visit class pages. For Art topics together with the vocabulary that we cover, you may find the below documents useful;
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You can find out more about the specific way provision in Foundation Stage 2 links into the subject by reading about objectives that children access in Art within the Foundation Stage.
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You may also wish to find out more about how children make progress across the school by reading our Art Progression Grid which explains the knowledge and skills we expect a typical child to demonstrate at the end of each year.
