Art & Design

Intent

At Sandhills, our Art curriculum offers a rich learning experience of how to draw, paint and design. Through this experience, children will acquire valuable communication and making skills that will contribute to all other areas of the curriculum. Children are encouraged to experiment with many forms of media whilst considering colour, form, texture, pattern, shape and space.This will, in-turn, allow them to develop their skills, processes and techniques using 2D and 3D forms.

Our Art & Design curriculum at Sandhills is designed around the three key domains of Art and Design, as stated by the National Curriculum;

Practical knowledge: developing technical proficiency

Theoretical knowledge: cultural and contextual content that pupils learn about artists and artwork

Disciplinary knowledge: what pupils learn about how art is studied, discussed and judged

We teach the skills of Art in a carefully planned way, so that our Art & Design units ensure regular opportunities for pupils to engage with all three of these domains. Pupils make progress in the art curriculum when they build practical, theoretical and disciplinary knowledge (defined above) and learn the connections between them. A high-quality art and design curriculum sequences the knowledge that pupils learn. This helps pupils to get better as they move through early years, primary and secondary education.

Implementation

Our Art and Design curriculum offers opportunities for children to explore ideas and meanings in specific works of art and the respective craftspeople and designers involved in their creation. We encourage pupils to work cooperatively and to appreciate and evaluate their own and others’ work. Regarding Art & Design, exclusively, Sandhills does not follow the notion of set sequencing - the idea that a child can’t progress to x until y is secure. We encourage children to develop their strengths and skills that align with the rich, broad and complex nature of Art. Children will partake in three Art & Design units, alternating with Design & Technology, across the academic year. During Art & Design units, lessons will take place weekly. Throughout each unit, pupils will work towards an end goal based on a key area of the curriculum. Final pieces of work are displayed in presentation folders for children to share. In addition to class-based artistic units, children will have the opportunity to engage in various other creative projects; such as  Whole-school Art projects as well as the River Learning Trust’s Festival of Art.

Art & Design in EYFS

The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework (2024) states that:

The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials.

At Sandhills we achieve this by:

• Providing opportunities for pupils to explore a range of media and materials through adult led activities and child initiated learning

• Providing opportunities for pupils to explore colour and colour mixing

• Providing opportunities for pupils to explore texture

• Introducing pupils to a range of artists

• Building on previous learning, refining ideas and developing children’s ability to represent them.

• Enabling pupils to create collaboratively, share ideas, resources and skills