Intent

At Abbey Gates Primary School, we are dedicated to fostering the creativity, individuality, and imagination of every child through our Art and Design curriculum. Our aim is to inspire and empower children to explore their artistic potential while developing essential skills and knowledge.

We have carefully chosen the 'Kapow' Art and Design scheme of work, specifically designed to encourage experimentation and self-expression. This curriculum, developed by experts, offers diverse opportunities for students to enhance their abilities and articulate their thoughts about the world around them. By exploring both the rich heritage of the UK and global cultures, pupils gain a broader understanding of art's significance.

Aligned with national standards, including the National Curriculum and the National Society for Education in Art and Design’s progression competencies, our curriculum ensures that children meet key attainment targets. Additionally, we provide opportunities for pupils to create their own artworks, drawing inspiration from artists they've studied and incorporating newly acquired skills.

Each year, children have the chance to showcase their work to the wider community, celebrating their achievements in a significant event. Our curriculum is designed to instil a respectful appreciation of diversity and encourage personal expression within the realm of art.

Through enrichment opportunities, we aim to provide authentic experiences that cultivate cultural capital and promote awareness of the many possibilities for artistic exploration. Our overarching intention is to equip children with the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and opportunities to unlock their talents and fulfil their potential.

Implementation

Our Art and Design curriculum is structured around five essential strands to support comprehensive artistic development:

• Generating ideas
• Using sketchbooks
• Making skills, including formal elements (line, shape, tone, texture, pattern, colour)
• Knowledge of artists
• Evaluating and analysing

Each unit of lessons is carefully sequenced, enabling students to progressively build their skills and knowledge while applying them to a variety of artistic outcomes. The formal elements, integral to the National Curriculum, are interwoven throughout the units. Key skills are revisited and expanded upon in a spiral curriculum model, allowing students to continually refine and deepen their understanding. Units within each year group are organised into four core areas:

• Drawing
• Painting and Mixed-Media
• Sculpture and 3D Art
• Craft and Design

Teachers use a range of KAPOW, including subject knowledge videos and continuous professional development opportunities, to empower staff in delivering engaging and effective lessons. Regular collaborations with artists enrich the learning experience through workshops and CPD sessions. In Key Stages 1 and 2, Art and Design are taught discretely, with all classes covering identical units concurrently each term.

Foundation stage pupils engage in a variety of artistic mediums through a combination of child-led and teacher-guided activities. The Summer Create Project offers a dedicated platform for students to apply their skills and knowledge, fostering creativity, cultural appreciation, and interdisciplinary connections with literacy and numeracy.

Our teaching prioritises key concepts such as Composition, Communication, and Comprehension, nurturing confident and reflective artists. Ongoing assessment and review ensure continuous progression, with staff regularly revisiting and reinforcing prior learning.

Creativity and independent outcomes are embedded into our units, allowing students to make their own artistic choices and decisions. While our art outcomes remain knowledge-rich, they are also unique to each pupil, reflecting their individuality and personal expression.

Impact

The impact of our Art and Design program is rigorously assessed through a comprehensive monitoring cycle, including book looks, digital evidence, learning walks, pupil voice, planning scrutiny, and curriculum intent reviews. Following this review process, the art and design subject leader formulates an action plan for improvement.

Assessment against our sequencing documents is facilitated through POP tasks, ensuring children maintain a solid foundation of knowledge, skills, and understanding. We seek evidence of sustained mastery, inspired learners, and children fulfilling their potential with a sense of enjoyment and achievement.

The intended impact of our Art and Design curriculum offer includes:

• Children articulating and explaining what Art and Design is.
• Demonstrating a passion and commitment to the subject.
• Using visual language to express emotions, interpret observations, and accentuate individuality.
• Drawing confidently and adventurously from observation, memory, and imagination.
• Exploring and inventing marks, developing ideas, and communicating purposefully in various media.
• Gaining knowledge and understanding of artists, craft makers, and designers.
• Thinking and acting like creative practitioners, using knowledge to inform, inspire, and interpret ideas.
• Demonstrating independence, community, and originality in creativity.
• Selecting and using materials, processes, and techniques skillfully and inventively.
• Reflecting on, analysing, and critically evaluating their own work and that of others.

This comprehensive approach ensures that our Art and Design curriculum not only imparts knowledge and skills but also fosters a deep appreciation for creativity and self-expression in our children