“I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.”
- Georgia O’Keeffe
Our Goal
At English Martyrs, our art program aims to inspire students and build their confidence to create their own works of art. We want to nurture their talents, encourage them to express their ideas, and teach them about art and artists from different cultures and history. Our curriculum meets the National Curriculum (2014) targets.
How we teach Art
Our art curriculum is organized into blocks, each focusing on disciplines like drawing, painting, printmaking, textiles, 3D art, and collage. Students revisit these disciplines throughout their primary years, tackling more complex challenges over time.
Key aspects of artistic development such as shape, line, color, value, form, texture, and space are emphasized. Activities are designed to enhance students' vocabulary and ability to discuss art meaningfully.
Our curriculum has five main strands:
- Substantive knowledge, including artists
- Disciplinary knowledge, including formal elements of art (line, shape, texture, color, form, space, tone)
- Practical knowledge, including idea generation and creating art
- Using sketchbooks
- Evaluating and analyzing art
Teachers adapt lessons to create cross-curricular links and encourage creativity and independent outcomes. Lessons are practical, promote experimentation, and are adaptable for all students.
Impact
Our art curriculum engages children in evaluating and discussing their work, helping them understand and improve their artistic outcomes. Continuous assessment allows teachers to monitor progress and provide guidance.
Students will leave English Martyrs with various art techniques, confidence, and creativity, ready for Key Stage 3 and beyond. They will:
- Create and explore their ideas and experiences.
- Be skilled in drawing, painting, sculpture, and other art techniques.
- Evaluate and analyze art using specific language.
- Know about great artists and the cultural history of art.
- Meet the national curriculum expectations for Art and Design.
Related Blog Posts
Nursery Pen Pals
In Nursery we are learning about using different media and this week we have been exploring the marks made by felt tip pens. So many children have been encouraged to pick up pens use them for a variety of purposes. We have had pictures created of families, friends, a rainbow cake, a unicorn,…
Year 2 Art
The children created a printed leaf surface for use in the next lesson. They then used a range of fruit and vegetables to make a symmetrical design from prints.
Textiles and Collage
We have been focusing on linear drawings and collage.
After drawing a section of tree bark and parts of a tree, we used a range of strip cuts to create a collage.
We thought carefully about the choice of colours and placement of each part of the collage.