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 Knowledge and Skills progression document particularly useful for supporting your child’s learning at home.

We have also included some photos of things we have created in our art lessons.

See the documents below for ways you can enjoy art at home!

Intent

St Mary’s believes that art and design is a vital part of children’s education and has a significant and valuable role in the taught curriculum, as well as the enrichment opportunities we offer our pupils. The art curriculum will develop children’s critical abilities and understanding of their own and others’ cultural heritages through studying a diverse range of male and female artists.

Children will develop their understanding of the visual language of art with effective teaching and considered sequences of lessons and experiences. Understanding of the visual elements of art and design (line, tone, texture, colour, pattern, shape, 3D form) will be developed by providing a curriculum which will enable children to reach their full potential.

We have our five drivers which underpin our Art and Design curriculum. We want our children to:

  • Explore their personal ‘aspirations’ and artistic potential through developing a variety of skills and studying key artists.
  • See that Art allows them to express themselves and relax. We encouraged our children to use art and creativity as an escape for mental wellbeing and can be used as a tool to support a ‘healthy lifestyle’.
  • ‘Communicate’ with teachers and peers, sharing their knowledge, concerns and thoughts on each skill and unit.
  • Visit art galleries in our ‘community’ and use our local environment as a stimuli for creating our own pieces of art.
  • Develop their ‘knowledge and understanding of the world’ with an art focus – learning about famous historical artists and key pieces of art from both history and recent times.

Implementation

The skills and knowledge that children will develop throughout each art topic are mapped across each year group and throughout the school to ensure progression.

We teach Art and Design though a block week of teaching to support pupil’s development and their journey of skills over a consistent time frame, rather than picking up a piece of work and adding smaller pieces from one week to another.

The emphasis on knowledge ensures that children understand the context of the artwork, as well as the artists that they are learning about and being inspired by. This enables links to other curriculum areas, including humanities, with children developing a considerable knowledge of individual artists as well as individual works and art movements. A similar focus on skills means that children are given opportunities to express their creative imagination, as well as practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting, printing, textiles and sculpture. The school’s high quality art curriculum is supported through the availability of a wide range of quality resources, which are used to support children’s confidence in the use of different media.

Impact

Pupils’ work reflect their sense of pride in their artwork and this is also demonstrated by creative outcomes across the wider curriculum. The school environment also celebrates children’s achievements in art and demonstrates the subject’s high status in the school, with outcomes, including sculptures, enhancing the outdoor as well as indoor environment.

The Art and Design curriculum at St Mary’s contributes to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection.

Gallery

EYFS

We have used a range of media to create our own pieces of art for Autumn and Diwali.

Y1 – Self Portraits Topic

We investigated different ways of making marks using pencils. We created a self-portrait from observations.

Y2 – Portraits Topic

We looked at a range of drawing media that would help us draw a portrait of our friends.

Y3 – We are Artists Topic

We have looked at mixing primary and secondary colours. We looked and tints and tones and created Autumn trees. We have used dots to create different patterns and textures. We have created different tones by using different coloured pencils.

Y4 – Investigating Patterns

We explored artists who used patterns. W created our own patterns using stencils and evaluated art work.

Y5 – WW1: In Flanders Fields

We have explored WW1 artists. We recreated art work in the style of Paul Nash. We created art work inspired by the poem Flanders Field.

Y6 – Japanese Art

We looked at different Japanese at work. We explored light and dark in art work. We looked at the Japanese art of Ukiyo-e and learnt about Japanese calligraphy. We created our own modern Japanese art.