Art
We believe in ‘process over product’ and that all learners deserve to express their innate creativity. We honor the unique voice of every young artist.
Key Purpose & Intention
Key Purpose of Art
- Develop skills in using different media through units on drawing, sketchbooks, painting, colour, and 3D.
- Provide opportunities to be innovative and creative, allowing children to develop their own creative voices.
- Foster an appreciation of visual arts by studying existing traditional and contemporary artists.
- Cultivate empathy and global awareness by exploring diverse experiences and cultures.
- Encourage children to look with curiosity and care, seeing the world through an artist’s eyes.
- Enhance well-being and spiritual experience through self-expression, creativity, and the ‘flow state’.
Our Curriculum Intent
We aim to inspire and nurture a love of the visual arts, ensuring every child feels celebrated for their creativity. Following the AccessArt scheme and National Curriculum:
- Focus on the process of ‘making and thinking’ alongside final outcomes.
- Celebrate individual creative journeys in Autumn and Summer Term Exhibitions.
- Capitalise on opportunities for oracy, personal development, fine/gross motor skills, and executive function.
- Give children freedom to innovate and take work in their own direction after mastering skills.
Core Concept & Foundational Skills
Threshold Concepts: Developing Ideas & Mastering Practical Skills.
| Stage | Drawing, Colour Theory & Skill Progression |
|---|---|
| EYFS | • Ideas & Colour: Explore colour mixing freely, use materials correctly (e.g., watercolours), speak confidently about artwork. • Drawing: Hold pencil effectively, draw with increasing detail, add emotion facial features to people. • Painting & 3D: Explore materials freely, name new mixed colours, join materials in different ways. |
| KS1 | • Ideas & Sketchbooks: Use sketchbooks to develop ideas, explain personal creative processes, analyse artwork using primary/secondary colour wheel knowledge. • Drawing: Observational drawing with close detail, experimental mark-making (charcoal, pen with wash, graphite). • Painting & 3D: Control painting tools, mix primary to secondary colours, shape, join, and detail 3D work. |
| LKS2 | • Ideas & Analysis: Apply 7 elements of art to analysis, understand cultural impact of artists, evaluate own work. • Drawing: Observational drawing with accurate shape/proportion, experiment with shading, line, and texture. • Painting & 3D: Mix warm, cool, complementary, and contrasting colours; use wider tools to shape, join, carve, and construct 3D forms. |
| UKS2 | • Ideas & Composition: Use rule of thirds and composition flow, refine ideas independently through sketches/colour studies. • Drawing: Draw from observation/imagination using proportion, perspective, and tone for realistic/expressive work. • Painting & 3D: Combine painting techniques confidently, mix tints, shades, and tones for depth; construct and refine 3D work. |
Practicing & Embedding Foundational Skills
| Area | Opportunities to Practise & Embed Secure Skills |
|---|---|
| Communication & Language (CLL) | Talking in full sentences, building art vocabulary, and sharing feedback on their own work, peer work, and studied artists. |
| Executive Function | Organising resources, following multi-step instructions, setting goals, sharing tools, practicing impulse control during paint mixing, and developing self-regulation/resilience. |
| Writing & Motor Skills | Developing shoulder strength, fine motor pencil grip, line/shape drawing movements, and sculpting techniques (pinching, rolling, pressing). |
| Mathematics | Applying ratios (Rule of Thirds in composition), recognising patterns, exploring symmetry, and identifying geometric/organic shapes. |
Progression: Early Years (Reception Outcomes)
Foundational Outcomes for Art (Early Learning Goals)
- Listening, Attention & Speaking: Listen attentively, respond with relevant questions/comments, use new vocabulary to discuss ideas.
- Personal, Social & Emotional: Set goals, control immediate impulses, maintain focus, follow multi-step directions, and show resilience faced with challenge.
- Physical Development: Use tripod grip for pencil control, handle small tools (scissors, brushes) accurately, and draw with care.
- Creating with Materials: Safely explore materials, tools, and techniques (colour, design, texture, form) and explain the process used.
Curriculum Overview for Art
Developed from the National Curriculum & AccessArt
| Stage / Cycle | Autumn (Drawing & Sketchbooks) | Spring (Surface & Colour) | Summer (Working in 3D) |
|---|---|---|---|
| KS1 A (2026/27) | Spirals | Exploring Watercolour | Making Birds |
| KS1 B (2027/28) | Explore & Draw | Mono Print Slides & Exploring the World Through Mono Print | Music & Art |
| LKS2 A (2026/27) | Gestural Drawing with Charcoal | Cloth, Thread, Paint | Telling Stories Through Drawing & Making |
| LKS2 B (2027/28) | Storytelling Through Drawing | Still Life Slides & Exploring Still Life | Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & Determination |
| UKS2 A (2026/27) | Typography & Maps | Mixed Media Land & City Scapes | Architecture: Dream Big or Small? |
| UKS2 B (2027/28) | 2D Drawing to 3D Making | Activism Slides & Activism | Shadow Puppets |
Ensuring Inclusive Practice
In addition to standard Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision, these specific adaptations ensure success for all in Art lessons.
| Broad Area of Need | Specific Barriers | Planned Adaptations |
|---|---|---|
| Communication & Interaction | • Expressive language • Receptive language • Social communication | • Sentence stems and visual prompts for art vocabulary. • Visual modelling provided alongside spoken instructions. • Frontload, scaffold, and structure peer feedback routines. |
| Cognition & Learning | • Working memory • Executive functioning • Dyslexia / Literacy • Aphantasia | • Step-by-step visual instructions kept visible throughout tasks. • Resource checklists, visual timers, and reduced resource quantities to prevent overwhelm. • Verbal evaluation options, word mats, typing alternatives, and broken-down modelling steps. • Provide reference photos, artist samples, and physical objects instead of drawing from memory. |
| Sensory & Physical | • Visual Impairment (VI) • Hearing Impairment (HI) • Sensory Overload (Autism/SPD) • Fine Motor Coordination | • Close modelling, enhanced lighting, verbal commentary (e.g., “pressing lightly”), high-contrast media. • Face class when speaking before turning to model for lip reading support. • Quiet working spaces, noise-cancelling headphones, swapping acrylics for watercolours to reduce smell, gloves. • Pencil grips, larger scale paper, taped paper, and thicker brushes; adults manage mechanics if needed. |
| SEMH | • Anxiety & Perfectionism • Impulse Control • Emotional Regulation | • Frontload for mistakes/imperfections, discuss recovery strategies, keep class sharing optional. • Clear rules/routines, adult presence, sensory/movement breaks to maintain regulation. • Built-in movement breaks and frontloading expectations. |