Art Statement

Art

‘A true artist is not one who is inspired but one who inspires others.’ Salvador Dali

The Purpose of Art

At Hartley Brook we aspire for our children to become creative, knowledgeable and critical thinkers with a deep understanding to discuss and respond to the world around them. We want our children to think artistically whilst developing skills, being inspired by a range of artists and the world around them, and experimenting with their own unique styles.

We want pupils to:

Master a range of art and design techniques, developing over time
Become critical learners, analysing and reflecting on their work and the work of others, using the language of art and design
Have a curiosity and desire to study art from around the world, different historical periods and created from a range of materials.

Implementation

At Hartley Brook, we provide our children with a knowledge rich curriculum in order to secure the most important knowledge in a carefully sequenced way. We use the Primary Knowledge Curriculum materials, which follow the National Curriculum aims and ambitions, and we ensure it is adapted to address pupil’s prior attainment. Art is blocked and children will constantly revisit prior learning to ensure it is retained.

Building on prior knowledge, we ensure pupils critically study the work of artists, designers and architects, make connections between this work and their own, and evaluate their own art, comping with that of those studied. We also ensure that our children are able to make links between art and other disciplines: for example, making links between art and history.

A critical and creative art understanding relies upon secure knowledge and skills. Our curriculum provides gradual progression of skills (split into painting, drawing, 3D form, collage, textiles, printmaking and mixed media), introducing the children to a diverse range of materials, concepts and types of art, alongside developing their critical analysis of their own work and that of others.

In order to provide more balance, our curriculum provides cultural diversity including topics such as: art from the Islamic world, western Africa and China. Female artists have also been included, and during study in Key Stage 2, there is opportunity for our children to explore why women are underrepresented in traditional Western art history.

Impact of the Curriculum on pupils’ learning

In art, the curriculum is ambitious and the curriculum is the progression model. It is progressively more challenging over time. Pupils complete prior learning quizzes at the start of every lesson, as well as more in-depth quizzes alongside a final piece of work at the end of the unit to assess learning and see what has been remembered. With children’s learning outcomes, teachers and leaders talk to pupils about their learning and what they have understood and remembered. Teachers make adaptations to lessons to anticipate misconceptions or gaps, and leaders look at learning across year groups to inform any big decisions about curriculum adaptations. Learning is recorded in sketch books as a reference point to check on the quality of what is being covered and governors help the school to monitor the quality of these.

Leaders measure the impact of the geography curriculum through:

lesson observations – how well children are contributing to discussions and how they articulate ideas about relevant themes;
learning walks – how well the curriculum intent is embedded
book looks – as part of triangulation with learning walks and assessments
pupil voice – enables us to listen to pupils’ views about their learning and how well curriculum content is taught and understood;
end of unit quizzes to demonstrate learning
summative assessments and quizzes to see what has been learned and remembered.
interleaved practice – enables us to measure children retained knowledge over time and recap prior learning and concepts