Arbury Primary School - Art Implementation

Curriculum and Learning

Art Implementation

Implementation

At Arbury Primary School we follow a bespoke curriculum, specially tailored to our school, using and adapting the high-quality ideas within the Access Art scheme. Over each year, children will always develop their skills in drawing, painting and sculpture. Over their time at school, they will also be introduced to and develop their knowledge and skills in areas such as printing and collage. There will be opportunities for children to use a range of media and equipment in every year group. We ensure that progression is being made in children’s skills and knowledge of drawing, printing, painting, colour, sculpture, texture, and pattern, by following a skills progression document that is bespoke to our school. Teachers refer to our skills progression document which helps to recognise the skills expected for each age range alongside the language desired. Classrooms are well resourced and we have a fully supplied art resource cupboard.

We split the terms between D&T and Art, with subjects alternating each half term as the subjects fit into the wider curriculum. We ensure that in the terms when D&T is taught, art is taught in special ‘Sketching Skills’ units, ensuring that during D&T half terms, children continue to build up and develop their sketching skills on a weekly basis. There is a weekly slot for art in the timetable for Years 1 to 6, however teachers have some flexibility over how they timetable this subject. Sometimes it may work better to block a longer amount of time for bigger, more complex outcomes.

The units for study and sketching skills completed in each year group can be seen in the grid below:

	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
Autumn 1	Unit 1: Nature Sculpture inspired by Andy Goldsworthy	Unit 1: Concentric circle paintings inspired by Wassily Kandinsky	Unit 1: Cave paintings inspired by the Stone Age	Unit 1: Sculpture inspired by Alexander Calder	Unit 1: Mixed Media sculpture inspired by Anglo-Saxon houses	Sketching Skills (Y6.1)
Autumn 2	Sketching Skills (Y1.1)	Sketching Skills (Y2.1)	Sketching Skills (Y3.1)	Sketching Skills (Y4.1)	Sketching Skills (Y5.1)	Unit 1: Clay mask sculptures inspired by the Mya
Spring 1	Unit 2: Bird Sculptures inspired by Leonardo da Vinci	Sketching Skills (Y2.2)	Sketching Skills (Y3.2)	Sketching Skills (Y4.2)	Sketching Skills (Y5.2)	Unit 2: Self-portraits inspired by Frida Kahlo
Spring 2	Sketching Skills (Y1.2)	Unit 2: Printing and collages inspired by Xgaoc’o X’are and Megan Coyle	Unit 2: Printing inspired by Ancient Greek vases	Unit 2: Collages inspired by Matisse	Unit 2: Painting inspired by Space	Sketching Skills (Y6.2)
Summer 1	Unit 3: Expressive painting and collage inspired by Mondrian and Charlie French	Sketching Skills (Y2.3)	Unity 3: Clay tiles inspired by Cezanne	Sketching Skills (Y4.3)	Sketching Skills (Y5.3)	Unit 3 – Designing buildings inspired by Zaha Hadid
Summer 2	Sketching Skills (Y1.3)	Unit 3: Mini-beast sculptures inspired by Jan van Kessel the Elder	Sketching Skills (Y3.3)	Unit 3: Flower paintings inspired by Georgia O’Keefe	Unit 3: Collographs inspired by Althea McNish	Sketching Skills (Y6.3)- David Hockney and perspective

We ensure that we study a diverse range of artists, designers and architects through the art units and the sketching skills. This includes artists from other cultures, women artists and artists with disabilities. For example, in Year 1 the children study the work of the abstract artist Charlie French who has a disability and in Year 5 children study the work of the textile designer Althea McNish who migrated to the UK from the Caribbean. Where possible, and when strong and meaningful links can be made, we ensure that there are cross-curricular links between the art units of work or sketching skills and the broader curriculum. For example, when Year 3 study the Stone Age to Iron Age in history, their art unit is based on prehistoric cave paintings and their first sketching skills unit is based on Stone Henge.

Enrichment Activities

At Arbury Primary School, we firmly believe that enrichment activities provide children with opportunities to try new and varied activities, meet real artists and see important art works in real life. We believe these experiences and opportunities help to promote art and develop a love for this important subject in our children. We ensure that children have access to a variety of trips, visits and links with external organisations, such as Kettle’s Yard and the Fitzwilliam Museum. Through these enrichment opportunities, we are able to enhance and extend children’s learning further, and foster in them a deep love of art and design.

Examples of recent enrichment opportunities and experiences in art for each year group include a whole school arts week called, ‘Take One Picture’ where everybody studies a local piece of art and creates art work or cross-curricular work inspired by this. The work from this was then We have several trips to local museums and galleries, such as Kettle’s Yard and The Fitzwilliam Museum. We have strong links with local galleries and museums and also the university and with these partners ensure enrichment opportunities are available. This has included an art project between Year 4 and King’s College, Cambridge to create art for ‘Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination’. Additionally, artists from Kettle’s Yard have come into school and held special art workshops for the children.