Art at Lawley Primary School
Our school vision
The whole school community at Lawley have high expectations for our children, and strive to ensure they leave school as confident, polite and independent young people, with the appropriate skills, values and learning to become successful in whatever their future will be. We aspire to instil in all our children a desire to never stop learning and to have the courage to succeed in whatever they do, across all areas of school life and beyond. At Lawley we are ‘Planting the seeds, growing the future.’
Led by Caitlin Folger
Intent
At Lawley Primary School, we value art and design as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum that will inspire and enthuse them to become life-long artists. We aim for Art and Design to provide the children with the opportunities to develop and extend skills and knowledge and to express their individual interests, by actively taking part in the rich and varied curriculum offer. We aim for children to experience work by a range of artists in order that they come to appreciate the positive contribution that art has in our society.
Implementation
Our Art and Design curriculum follows our detailed school progression map to revisit and develop key skills and knowledge across the key stages. The design of the units allows children to revisit and build on previous knowledge and skills in order that they know more, can do more and remember more in their learning. It engages, inspires and challenges pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they are able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.
Our progression map focuses on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. The children explore and evaluate different creative ideas by developing skills in drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles and 3D sculpture. Children study a range of works by famous artists to develop knowledge of styles. The children have a sketchbook starting in year one that follows them through the school to show progression across all skills. Artwork is displayed and celebrated around school to motivate and inspire others and to celebrate the pupils’ artwork.
We offer children enrichment opportunities working alongside local artists and secondary school specialists to support and enhance our school curriculum.
Our teachers have access to the Kapow art scheme to support their lesson planning, pitch and progression.
Impact
Assessment in Art is designed to ensure that teachers understand how well pupils are developing their knowledge and skills. Our approach is continuous, discussion-rich, balanced and reflective. It is based on the knowledge and skills on our progression map.
- Each lesson begins with a relevant 'Connect' activity allowing teachers to assess pupils' understanding of learning from previous lessons. Teachers are then able to identify misconceptions early and ensure all pupils are ready to move confidently into new learning.
- Throughout the lessons, we continually assess the children through verbal feedback, discussion, ongoing modelling and observing their ability to complete tasks.
- Each lesson ends with a structured plenary. Pupils discuss key questions taken from the Kapow 'wrapping up' section, they share their ideas and work and they may complete a short activity to demonstrate their understanding of the lesson's learning. From this, teachers know what has been understood and are able to respond by adjusting planning and addressing misconceptions.
- At the end of each lesson, pupils complete self-assessment giving them a sense of ownership which supports motivation and effort.
- At the end of each unit, pupils complete a short quiz to check their recall of key knowledge and they also complete an assessment as learning task. These vary in form but are all taken from the Kapow knowledge and skills catcher assessment resources and are designed to help pupils reflect on their learning and give teachers a clear picture of progress across the unit.
We measure the summative progress made by our children by reviewing work and assessing this against our knowledge and skills progression maps. Throughout lessons, we regularly assess the children through observations of their ability to complete artistic tasks independently. Our art subject leader monitors the quality of the teaching of art through pupil voice, lesson monitoring and work studies.
The impact of this curriculum ensures that by the time the children leave Lawley Primary School, they will have developed strong artistic skills and knowledge and will be enthused and excited to continue their artistic learning into adulthood.
