Welcome to St Mary’s Art page. Below, you will find links to all the information on Art you need to see what our children are learning at school. You might find the Art Progression and Skills document particularly useful for supporting your child’s learning at home.
Art Curriculum Statement
Art encourages children to develop fine and gross motor skills, social skills, decision-making skills, language skills and risk-taking skills. The subject also encourages children to form opinions and to be inventive. Art teaches children about colour, layout, perspective, and balance. These are also all the techniques that are necessary in presentations (visual, digital) of academic work.
Children explore and develop their skills and creativity using a wide range of media. We value the use of sketch books and encourage the importance of experimentation, exploration and pushing ideas in imaginative ways. Art allows children to explore, build on and record their own creative and imaginative ideas. Creating pictures helps children observe the subject matter of the real-world scene they are drawing from more closely, and makes them better observers of detail in the world around them. Developing observational skills through picture-making facilitates the child’s visual sensitivity to the world.
Our curriculum is enriched by embedding theory and reading around the subject of Art and Design to provide children with a greater context and understanding of the subject. Reinforcing the curriculum drivers of knowledge of the world, aspirational and community through Art and Design lessons. We ensure learning is purposeful and relevant to pupils with tangible links and linking famous artists to each unit.
The teaching of Art can encourage children to seek creative-minded careers such as graphic design, fashion design, engineering and many more.
With reference to the National Curriculum ‘A high-quality art and design 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’. This is what we encourage at St Mary’s.
Art & Design Documents
Please view the additional documents in school:
- Art and Design Knowledge and Skills Progression
- Art and Design Vocabulary Progression
- Art and Design Knowledge Organisers
- Art and Design Unit Markers
Art Ideas for Parents
Our Art vision is to creatively explore ideas through experimentation.
‘This world is but a canvas to our imagination.’
Henry David Thoreau
‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’
Napoleon Bonaparte
Progression of Skills
Children can only develop skills by having the opportunity to make, explore, experiment, fail, re visit and reflect.
In each unit of work the children draw and create using a range of media, whilst exploring the work of an artist, crafts person, or designer. They choose which of their existing skills they wish to practise before being taught new skills. Work in sketchbooks documents each child’s unique progress and learning journey that year.
Children are encouraged to move their learning forward by reflecting on their own work. Self-evaluation is taught throughout each unit and is supported by peer and teacher led critiques.
By revisiting different mediums and techniques throughout their school life, children will have the skills and confidence to express themselves and produce work they enjoy making and can be proud of.
Artist of the Term
At St Mary’s, we love to celebrate the pupil’s achievements. We have introduced ‘Artist of the term’ to celebrate and share amazing pieces of art. It is also a great opportunity for the pupils to see what art looks like across the school and the future topics that they will explore.
Summer 1 2024
Home Art Activity Ideas
Have a look below for some fun activities to keep you busy!
Learn how to draw some of your favourite cartoon characters using only letters and numbers
Learn how to create illustrations
Jacqueline Wilson explains how inspiring art galleries are
Have a look on Google Arts and Culture for some amazing online artwork and galleries
Take a virtual tour around Monet’s house
A few Arty Ideas
Use kitchen roll as a mindfulness colouring page
Make a plastic milk bottle bird feeder
Make an Elmer the Elephant out of a plastic milk bottle
Take mindful colouring outside with chalk
Make your own play dough
2 cups of plain flour
1 cup of salt
1 tablespoon of oil
half to 1 cup of cold water
2 drops of liquid food colouring
Mix the flour and salt then add the water, oil and food colouring. Knead the mixture well, adding a little more flour if the consistency is too wet
Why not try printing with natural materials you find on your daily walk?
Discover 212,853 artworks. Explore 3,256 venues. Meet 38,360 artists
Lots of ideas across the different disciplines in KS1 & KS2 Art
Useful links for Art and Design
You can access over 500 arts and crafts activities, including painting, sculptures and printmaking. This site gives you ideas of what Art supplies to provide for you child in order to create and make different things.
You can watch step by step videos on how to draw different things, origami for children, how to paint, holiday and celebratory art projects and projects related to the Seasons. It also gives you a list of the resources you will need before completing each art project.
A website which gives you ideas on how to collect natural resources to produce different forms of Art.
Tate Kids-The Best Art Website for Kids
Kids can follow instructions to make different things, play art games and quizzes and explore and read about the work of well-known artists.
You can watch class clips on famous artists, techniques and how to create different things.
How can you encourage Art at home?
Get messy!
Try to get hold of as many different types of drawing and painting resources as you can to let your child get creative and explore creating art using different materials. Paints, chalk, crayons, pens, pencils, modelling clay and much more can be found in discount shops. Just don’t forget to put lots of newspaper down first!
Use household objects creatively
Alternatively, instead of buying materials, let them get creative using things around the house – for example, pasta and pulses to create pictures using glue.
Keep a sketch book
Encourage your child to keep a sketch book. Suggest that they take it with them when they go out so that they can look for things to sketch – a tree, a building, a scene. Alternatively, if they see something they would like to draw, take a photo on your phone and let them sketch from it when they are home.
Celebrate your child’s art
Praise your child’s creations and encourage them not to get disheartened if they feel they have made ‘mistakes’. Explain that art is about being creative and trying out different things. There is no right or wrong way to do things. You could even ‘frame’ their work using coloured paper or card and create a little gallery on the kitchen wall or in their bedroom to display their work.
Discuss and enjoy art together
Find out about local art galleries or museums that you can visit with your child. Encourage them to talk about what they see and to share their opinions – about subject matter, colours, what materials the artist used, and so on.
