Art

All things are possible for one who believes – Mark 9:23

 

During their time at school, each child will have the opportunity to experiment and seek inspiration through a variety of different mediums and artistic styles. Learning new knowledge and skills, allowing them to invent and create their own works of art.

We strongly believe in encouraging children to express their individualities through their art, stimulating creativity, imagination and inventiveness. Our themed weeks, whole school activities and opportunities within and outside school all enrich and develop children’s artistic learning whilst enhancing their positive Growth Mindset and sense of achievement. 

“Art and design is not just a subject to learn, but an activity that you can practise: with your hands, your eyes, your whole personality." - Quentin Blake, Illustrator and Children's Laureate

 

Curriculum Intent

Pupils will be exposed to a broad range of different kinds of arts, craft and design. They will be able to think critically about art and design, including their own. Through gaining knowledge of famous artists, they will develop an understanding of how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture and creativity. As they progress through each year group, they will develop their techniques and have the opportunity to apply these creatively with no ceiling on what they can achieve. Fundamental skills such as sketching, observing, use of materials, shape and colour and imagination are built upon with each new unit so that pupils feel confident to apply these independently at secondary school and beyond in turn building their identity as an artist. 

 

Curriculum Implementation

Our art curriculum is designed to provide a broad and balanced range of experiences, allowing pupils to explore various art forms, techniques, and materials. Through carefully planned schemes of work, we ensure coverage of different artistic disciplines, including painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, and photography. Our curriculum is designed to be progressively scaffolded, building on prior knowledge and skills, and allowing for creativity to flourish. Pupils are guided by teachers but have freedom to be creative with the techniques used building to year 6, where they can select and experiment with materials. Throughout their time at Waverley Abbey, pupils have opportunities to discuss and critique each other’s work to develop it further. A self-evaluation structure for final pieces encourages pupils to reflect on the skills they have learnt and how they can apply these in future. 

 

Curriculum Impact

Pupils’ sketch books demonstrate skills and control of technique with media such as pencil, pastel and paint. They develop an understanding of the elements of art, such as line, colour, shape, form, and texture, and learn to apply them purposefully in their own work. Pupils acquire artistic knowledge and skills, enabling them to produce artwork of increasing complexity and originality as they progress through our school.

 

If you would like to find out more about the curriculum please make an appointment to see your child's teacher who will be happy to discuss this with you, you can do this by contacting school through the office via - info@waverley-abbey.surrey.sch.uk.

 

Waverley Abbey Art Progression of Skills and Knowledge

At Waverley Abbey we are focusing on the content of our whole curriculum to ensure that there is a much greater emphasis on the ‘powerful knowledge’ that children need in order to truly understand concepts. A Knowledge Organiser (KO) sets out in detail what we want children to know by the end of each unit of learning – especially in our foundation subjects. We wish for most of our children to be able to recall the information on the KO by the end of each unit, thus ensuring that our children retain as much information, knowledge and skills as possible.

KO are the ‘go-to’ documents outlining the essential knowledge that the teachers will be covering in each of our subjects. These will include where appropriate: dates, famous figures, vocabulary, definitions, and other useful information. Future Knowledge Organisers, will be shared with pupils at the start of each unit.

The use of the KOs will be developed over the academic year but as a guide, the children will take part in regular quizzes, that help stretch their long-term memory and develop their recall of key information as well as using them as supportive documents and learning prompts within lessons.

We ask that parents and carers read through these KO at home with the children, to support them with their long term memory. It is also useful for children to go back to previous Knowledge Organisers and revise these so that the information from previous learning is not forgotten.

 

Formal Elements of Art Knowledge Organiser - Whole School

Year 3 Drawing and Using Charcoal

Year 3 Drawing, Painting and Collage Cityscapes

Year 4 Drawing and Painting Portraits

Year 4 Printing