‘Every human is an artist’ – Don Miguel Ruiz

Purpose of study

Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should 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.

As pupils progress, they should be able 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.

DfE Statutory guidance – National curriculum in England: art and design programmes of study. Published 11 September 2013

Art is a foundation subject of the National Curriculum, which enables the children to express and develop their individual creativity. Holland Park gives the children the opportunity to work individually and collaborate, while encouraging them to experiment and develop skills and techniques. Each year group plans Art lessons using a variety of skills and media, which link to the year group topic for each term.

At Holland Park, we value Art and Design and it is important the children have access to a broad and well balanced curriculum. Art and Design offers the opportunity to allow children to express themselves and extend and develop their skills. Initially, children are encouraged to explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of individual work, collaboration and adult directed activities. Pupils are taught to develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.

Art throughout history has provided some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design curriculum should engage, inspire and challenge pupils. Offering the children the ability to experiment, create and invent their own works of art. Pupils should be encouraged to investigate specific techniques and methods of historical figures, while also taking the opportunity to reflect and evaluate their own artwork.

It is important the children understand the impact art has on helping shape human history. Additionally, pupils need to understand the link between creative arts and the cultural wealth of nations, which is provided by Art and Design.

Holland Park Curriculum Principles for Art and Design

Art at Holland Park Primary School allows the children to be inspired and creative, while understanding the key principles and techniques across the art curriculum. All pupils will develop their artistic skills over their time at Holland Park, which can be identified across the art progression maps for each year group.

The progression maps follow the themes and ‘driver subjects’ for each year group to ensure that the learning is engaging and links with all the other curriculum subjects.

The art curriculum allows the children to understand the culture and history of the year group topics.

Each art topic allows the children to investigate, understand, experiment and evaluate their understanding of a particular artist method, while also understanding the wider influence of this art work to the world.

The children will complete at least one art project per term, which means a minimum of three projects per academic year. These will be linked to the themes/topic for each year group.

The children will be allowed to experiment with as many different mediums/tools that the school can provide, which will enable the children to express their creative nature. Importantly, the curriculum will give the children the opportunity to use many techniques linked to the progression map during the course of each project.

The art curriculum will maximise every pupils’ access to culture, artistic techniques and key vocabulary relevant to the ‘driver subjects’ for each term.

Teachers must ensure they have an understanding of specific techniques and are able to model these methods confidently across a range of year groups.