Intent

Our Art curriculum provides children with the opportunities to develop and extend skills and an opportunity to express their individual interests, thought and ideas. A high-quality art 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 creative arts. 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. Our intent in Art is that all our children receive their entitlement and frequent access to art as laid out in the national curriculum, to inspire and enthuse children’s imagination and appreciate ‘creative arts’ and to enhance children’s learning by having opportunities for collaborative working and exploring the different styles and techniques of a range of artists. We break Art down into four key skill requirements: studying classical and modern great artists, designing and planning, awareness of different arts, crafts and design, and evaluating / analysing. Our teaching builds upon pupils’ prior knowledge and develops a range of skills using observation, research, questioning, identifying and investigating.

Implementation

The arts are highly valued at Mission Grove, with creative thinking and achievements part of the fabric of school life. Knowing the ever-changing reality of educational climates, we are committed and prepared to ensure that involvement in the arts continues to be accessible to all our pupils. This is achieved by threading the arts throughout each school day. We offer a creative curriculum, in which Art is embedded within a bigger picture, linked to the topic of the term. This supports our pupils with being able to showcase their skills in a range of ways across the curriculum as well as encouraging the viewpoint that subjects are not taught in isolation.

We provide students with a multitude of arts and cultural experiences and develop good partnerships with external organisations. Our ethos values teachers being creative and getting out of the classroom. We encourage experiential learning and have exciting areas within our school that cater to this, for instance: the Biodome in our wildlife area, our Green Screen, Radio room and Library buses. We regularly plan for exciting visitors and trips linked to the creative arts. Examples of trips and visitors this year include:

• Year 1 and 2 had a performance from sixth form drama students at City and Islington college
• Year 2 and 4 had a Dance workshop from Dance Days linked to their topics (The Great Fire of London and Egypt)
• Some of our Year 5 children took part in a workshop at Plaster Works where they gave old plaster board a new lease of life.
• In December our Year 4 students worked with local artists to create neon windmills which were displayed in Walthamstow library during Highstreet ADVENTures, a local festival
• Every year group visited our local cinema to watch a film during the Into Film festival.

Across the year there are a range of whole-school events to celebrate and showcase the arts. These include:

• Film week
• STEM week
• The Big Draw
• Sky All Access Arts week (Matt Dosa)
• Our biennial School Art exhibition
• Remembrance Day
• Weekly enrichment hour whereby children select activities on a half termly basis. Many are creative arts based, for example, animation, cartoon drawing, sewing, origami, radio, music, printing and karaoke to name a few.
• We offer children lunchtime and afterschool clubs that range from art club to circus skills.

End of unit goals are shared with the children so that they know where their learning is heading within each topic studied. This also supports them with making links across Art.

Impact

Using our termly planning and curriculum overviews; our lessons are planned to enable children to have every opportunity to build upon their prior knowledge and consolidate their understanding.

The impact of our Art curriculum is that the majority of children, in our school, are able to;

• 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.
• By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study

Teachers assess children’s work in Art by observing them work during lessons. Verbal feedback is offered throughout the lesson, whilst not compromising a child’s creativity. In KS2, Art work is marked in the form of post-it notes by their peers. Formative assessment is embedded into each lesson in the form of evaluating their own work and of others, discussions and plenaries. Teachers use Insights every term to track the child's progress against the different art skills.

To view Art in Action at Mission Grove, click on the tabs on the right-hand side.

You can download our Art Road Map, Sketchbook Policy and Year Group Progression at the bottom of this page.