Art and Design at Nansledan
Art is an important part of Nansledan’s STEAM curriculum. We believe that Art teaching is a fundamental role in developing creativity and individual expression. Art and Design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation. Our curriculum for Art and Design aims to ensure that all pupils can:
- Produce creative work, explore their ideas and record their experiences.
- Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design.
- Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art form.
Art and design activity enriches children’s learning and enables them to communicate their thoughts, ideas and observations in a practical and expressive way. We ensure that all our pupils are inspired, challenged and equipped with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. Through experience of a variety of materials, tools and techniques children have the opportunity to record creatively the world around them. Our Art and Design curriculum is built around essential knowledge, understanding and key skills. These are broken into year group expectations and show clear continuity and progress.
Our progression of skills and knowledge shows the skills that are taught within each year group, how these skills develop and how knowledge builds in the formal elements of Art. Creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded into our units, supporting students in learning how to make their own creative choices and decisions, so that their art outcomes, whilst still being knowledge-rich, are unique to the pupils. Lessons are always practical in nature and encourage experimental and exploratory learning with pupils using sketchbooks to document their ideas.
Early years:
In the early years we follow the programme of study for expressive art and design. This is specific area of the early years covering: exploring using media and materials and being imaginative.
At Nansledan, we help children in the Early Years to be creative by encouraging their natural curiosity and questioning. Children are supported to notice everything and closely observe the most ordinary things. We build on children’s interests and support them to express their thoughts, feelings and ideas through art and design. We encourage children to explore and use materials and resources in an open-ended way so that they can make choices and have confidence in their own ideas. Careful interactions with experienced adults who express an interest in the process a child has gone through and asks open questions such as ‘Can you tell me about it – that looks interesting’ helps children flourish and develop their amazing imaginations and creativity. Continuous provision provides learning opportunities within both the indoor and outdoor areas, allowing the children the opportunity to practise and refine taught skills.
Key Stage One and Two:
We ensure that sufficient time is given to Art and Design, in order to enable pupils to meet the expectations set out in the National Curriculum programme of study. In accordance with the National Curriculum’s expectations, we aim to ensure that all pupils:
- Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences.
- Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design.
- Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
The Art and Design curriculum is coherent and shows progression, allowing time for children to take inspiration from many artists and designers and to develop ideas and master techniques.
Careers
National Curriculum objectives are further supplemented by a careers focus in most Art lessons, where teachers help pupils to contextualise their learning by sharing possible future paths and exploring the impact of current and historic significant individuals in careers that apply the Art delivered in their current topic.
Here are some examples of careers in Art that our children aspire to:
