Art and Design

Our Key Aims:

Our key aims are to stimulate inventiveness and imagination. We provide visual, tactile and sensory experiences and opportunities, which create a framework for success and enjoyment, thus enhancing self-esteem.

Pupils can use colour, form, texture and pattern to communicate what they see, feel and think.

At Applecroft we give the children opportunities to:

• Produce creative work
• Explore own ideas
• Record their experiences
• Become proficient at drawing, painting, sculpting
• Become proficient at general art, craft and design techniques
• Evaluate and analyse creative works using artistic language
• Know about great artists, craft makers and designers
• Understand historical and cultural developments of art forms

Our Art Curriculum Intent:

At Applecroft we value Art and Design as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. We teach children the skills, concepts and knowledge necessary for them to express responses to ideas and experiences in a visual or tactile form.

Our curriculum encourages them to express themselves in a creative and imaginative manner. It stimulates inventiveness through exploration of different mediums and tools and provides children with opportunities to develop and extend their skills.

Children learn the skills of drawing, printing, painting, collage, textiles and 3D work and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. Children are introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of styles used by well-known artists. The skills they acquire are applied to their cross curricular topics, allowing the children to use their art skills to reflect on and explore topics in greater depth; for example, sketching historical artefacts in detail, researching geographical locations to support their work on landscape painting or using art as a medium to express emotion and thought to enhance their personal, social and emotional development.

Our Curriculum:

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS):

In our nursery and reception classes we follow the EYFS statutory framework, which sets out the seven areas of learning including Expressive Arts and Design. Children also learn about their class artists of Lowry, Matisse, Kandinsky and Seurat.

Key Stage One and Two:

In Key Stage One (Years 1 & 2) and Key Stage Two (Years 3-6), we follow the National Curriculum.

In Key Stage One the children learn to:

• To experiment with drawing, printing, painting, collage, textiles and 3D work and digital art to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
• To develop a wide range of art and design techniques through the use of colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space
• Learn about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers.

The children also learn about their class artists that include: Joan Miro, Georgia O’Keefe, Claude Monet and Andy Goldsworthy in key stage one.

In Key Stage Two the children learn to:

• Develop their creativity by increasing their knowledge, skills and understanding of materials and processes
• Pupils' experiences at this stage enable them to understand the diverse functions of art in the wider world
• Pupils  learn to improve their use of tolls and become confident in using a variety of techniques 
• Pupils increase their awareness of the purpose of art from historical periods and begin to ask themselves about the purpose, creation, materials and significance of a variety of art works

The children continue to learn about class artists as they move through key stage two that include, Vincent Van Gogh, Barbara Hepworth, Pablo Picasso, Bridget Riley, Anthony Gormley, David Hockney, Andy Warhol and Henry Moore.