Intent

                                   "Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it."  Salvador Dali

At The Mead Infant and Nursery school Art and Design is an integral part of our curriculum and culture. Our curriculum values children’s individuality and creativity by providing opportunities to develop their skills and nurture their talents. Art and Design is a vehicle our children to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas about the world around them, as well as learning about art and artists across cultures and through history. We aim for our children to appreciate the process of art over the product by building children’s confidence to take risks and by placing importance on experimentation and exploration.

Our children develop the skills of exploration and experimentation at the start of their journey in the Early Years. Children are given the resources and opportunities to make independent choices when creating their own artwork to express their ideas and views of the world around them. In Key Stage One, children will continue to build on their exploration skills and will apply learned making skills, their understanding of the formal elements in art and their artistic knowledge to their own artwork and discussions about the work of themselves and others.

Implementation

In Nursery and Reception, Art and Design is integrated into the children’s daily learning experience through their child-initiated play. Our Early Years environment is richly resourced to stimulate imagination and creativity and offers a strong foundation for children to explore and experience. In the Early Years children see the value of Art and Design by the inspiration of the works of artists. Staff value children’s unique responses and encourage children to deepen their experiences through carefully planned adult-led and supported teaching of skills and knowledge.

From the Reception year through to Key Stage One, Kapow’s Art and Design scheme of learning is designed in a spiral curriculum approach so that children can revisit key skills with increased complexity throughout their time at our school. Units of learning are organised into four key areas: Drawing, Painting and mixed-media, Sculpture and 3D, and Craft and design. Within these units, children will be taught the formal elements: line, shape, tone, texture, pattern, colour.

Units of lessons are sequential and allow children to build on their skills and knowledge, applying them to a range of outcomes. In Key Stage One, children are provided with their own sketchbook to self-express and evaluate their skills. The use of sketchbooks encourages children to view their artistic skills in a holistic perspective and see the value of the ‘process’ and ‘experience’.  Each lesson provides scaffolding and challenge to ensure that all children are able to achieve their full potential in Art and Design.

Impact

In Art and Design the children play a part in evaluation of their own artistic skills and knowledge. Children will engage with dialogue and decision making about the quality of their outcomes and the improvements they need to make.

The impact of Art and Design is constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. In the EYFS children are regularly assessed using checkpoints for Expressive Arts and Design. Children at the end of the Foundation Stage will be expected to meet the ELGs for Expressive Arts and Design: ‘Exploring and Using Media and Materials’ and ‘Being Imaginative’. In Key Stage One, each half term, teachers assess pupils against carefully chosen learning objectives that link to the National Curriculum. Lesson plans include guidance to support teachers with formative assessment against the learning objectives for each lesson.

The expected impact of following the Kapow Primary Art and design scheme of work is that children will:

•Produce creative work, exploring and recording their ideas and experiences.

•Be proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.

•Evaluate and analyse creative works using subject-specific language.

•Know about great artists and the historical and cultural development of their art.

•Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Art and design.

Our children should leave The Mead Infant and Nursery School, equipped with a range of techniques and the confidence and creativity to form a strong foundation for their Art and design learning at Key Stage 2 and beyond.