Art

Intent

At Kingmoor Nursery and Infant School we have an ambitious Art Curriculum that is knowledge and vocabulary rich and that offers a balanced approach to the practical and theoretical knowledge and the disciplinary knowledge. We use the CUSP curriculum approach in KS1, this meets the requirements of the National Curriculum, ensuring that children are taught:

• to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products
• to use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
• to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work.

Implementation

Central to our curriculum are activities designed to develop pupils’ oracy and vocabulary skills to enable them to use artistic language meaningfully when talking about their work and the work of others. We believe at Kingmoor Nursery & Infant School that our art curriculum provides all pupils with an opportunity to express themselves. By providing the children with a rich and varied curriculum, appropriate experiences and opportunities the children’s knowledge and imagination are encouraged through active learning.  The curriculum provides an important and unique way of communicating, seeing and responding to the world around them.  It is an important part of a broad and balanced education that is taught at Kingmoor Nursery and Infant School. Our aims are to ensure that our pupils experience a wide breadth of experiences and have, by the end of each key stage one, long-term memory of an ambitious body of substantive and disciplinary knowledge.

EYFS

Art in the In the Revised Early Years Foundation Stage, Expressive Art and Design is broken down into two aspects:

• Exploring and Using Media and Materials
• Being Imaginative

We recognise that Creative experiences contribute enormously to children’s development and wellbeing:

• Motor Skills: Many of the motions involved in making art, such as holding a paintbrush or making marks with a crayon, are essential to the growth of fine motor skills in young children, developing the dexterity that all children will need for writing.

  Language Development: Making art, or just talking about it, provides opportunities to practice and extend vocabulary. Children can use descriptive words to discuss their own creations or to talk about what feelings are elicited when they see different styles of artwork.

  Decision Making: We believe that Art and Design education strengthens problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. The experience of making decisions and choices in the course of designing and creating art carries over into other parts of life.

  Visual Learning: Drawing, sculpting, threading and connecting all develop visual-spatial skills, which are more important than ever. Even before children can read they are taking in visual information. This information consists of cues that we get from pictures or three-dimensional objects from digital media, books and television.

  Inventiveness: When children are encouraged to express themselves and take risks in creating art, they develop a sense of innovation that will be important in their adult lives.

  Cultural Awareness: As we live in an increasingly diverse society, the images of different groups in the media may also present mixed messages. Teaching children to recognise the choices that an artist or designer makes in portraying a subject helps them to understand the concept that what they see may be someone’s interpretation of reality.

Nursery 

The foundations of Expressive Art and Design begin in Nursery. Children are provided with a range of materials and experiences. Our continuous provision is carefully planned around 'Common Play Based behaviours' to ensure challenging opportunities for children to learn through play. Helping children to be creative is also about encouraging attitudes of curiosity and questioning as about skills or techniques. Children notice everything and closely observe the most ordinary things that adults often take for granted. Building on children’s interests can lead to them creating amazing inventions or making marks on paper that represent for them an experience or something they have seen. Encouraging children to choose and use materials and resources in an open-ended way helps them to make choices and to have confidence in their own ideas. 

Reception

Children in Reception are able to build on prior experiences and continue to provide open-ended opportunities to develop children's imagination and flexible thinking and enable their unique responses. We ensure that children have opportunities to explore new materials, tools and and learn new techniques.

Key Stage 1

Our KS1 Art curriculum is organised into modules including drawing, painting, printmaking, textiles, 3D and collage. Vertical progression in each discipline has been deliberately woven into the fabric of the curriculum so that pupils can revisit key disciplines throughout their Primary journey at increasing degrees of challenge and complexity. In addition to the core knowledge required to be successful within each discipline. 

Enrichment

At Kingmoor Nursery and Infant school, we provide a wide range of engaging art opportunities that challenge and inspire children of all abilities. We display children’s fantastic artwork both in the classroom and throughout our school, to instill an ongoing sense of pride in their own creations. We also aim to start up an annual Kingmoor Nursery and Infant School Art Exhibition in the summer term. This will highlight and celebrate the progress each year group has made. Children also have the opportunity to attend ‘Art Afterschool Club’ at various points in the school year.  

Mental Health

Impact

• We will be able to see that the children know more and remember more in Art through evidence in their Sketch Books, in high quality art work displayed around the school and pupil voice. We will also see they are able to recall prior learning and apply it. Children will then start their next year of learning with the necessary skills and knowledge to build upon. 
• Sketch Books show a record of a variety of different art opportunities for children building on a progression of skills. Classrooms and displays showcase the children’s art work in a variety of ways. 
• Children are confident to talk about their artwork, what they have done and any techniques they have use