Miss E Busby
Art Lead
Mrs A Baille
Specialist Art Teacher
Intent
At St Mary’s, children are encouraged to love God above all things by constantly striving for excellence worthy of our God given gifts. By offering a curriculum which is progressive, children have the opportunity to develop their skills year upon year so that by the time they leave St Mary’s they are proficient in a range of artistic techniques.
As pupils progress through school, they should begin to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.
The aims of teaching art and design in our school are:
- To engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.
- To produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences.
- To become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
- To evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design.
- To know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
At St Mary’s, Art and design is planned and taught by our Art Specialist in discrete weekly art lessons which focus on the range of knowledge and skills from the National Curriculum. Due to this, there is a clear progression of skills, knowledge and techniques which the children build upon and develop year by year and our specialist’s love of art is mirrored by the children. During their time at St Mary’s, the children will have the opportunity to work with a range of medias including; painting, collage, sculpture, drawing and digital media.
Each half term, the children undertake a new project in which their knowledge and skills are built upon over a sequence of lesson, culminating in a final, accomplished piece of artwork. In this way, the children end each topic with a strong sense of achievement. At last two times a year, the children start a new topic with an artist study which goes on to inspire their work for the rest of the project. Throughout the corridors at St Mary’s, the children’s master pieces are given pride of place on displays and the children take great joy in seeing their work as they move around the school.