Art

Intent
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”

- Scott Adams

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

 - Edgar Degas


At Queen Eleanor’s C of E junior school, our vision for art is to give children the freedom and confidence to express themselves through the creative process. We seek to inspire them by teaching them about the amazing artists of the past and present – from Van Gogh to Jackson Pollock, from classical approaches to ground-breaking modern masterpieces. 

Children learn to communicate and create their ideas through the use of colour, texture, patterns and shape with a variety of materials and artist’s tools. Pupils revisit sketching skills across the year groups enabling them to refine their skills and progress their art work as they move up through the school.


Implementation

Art is intertwined with other learning at Queen Eleanor’s as it is an integral part of culture and society outside school. Cross-curricular links are made with history in Year 3 through learning about Celtic patterns and Roman mosaics. Year 4 artwork is similarly linked to history, with Mayan masks and Victorian self-portraits. In year 5, art is linked to religious studies, with children learning about Islamic art. Year 6 progress to an eclectic range of work, starting with Egyptian silk portrait painting and continuing through landscape painting and finally to Pop Art.


Art Curriculum Overview

Year

Summary of Learning

3

Celtic knot designs

Roman mosaic printing

Batik nature patterns

4

Package design

Mayan masks

Self portraits

Drawing animals

5

Jackson Pollock volcanoes

Cave art

Islamic art

WWII artists

6

Egyptian portraits and silk paintings

Landscapes – pastels and water colours

Pop art

Impact

Art encourages self-expression and creativity, giving children the confidence to experiment with different media and to learn new skills, such as the Indonesian Batik technique.

Art forms the basis of many creative industries such as advertising, branding and product design. Pupils thrive in a learning environment where they can use their imagination and skills to create pieces of work of which they are proud.