St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Swindon

At St, Mary’s, we value the creative curriculum. We believe art can have a powerful and positive effect on children, helping them to become confident, creative learners who are able to express their individual interests, thought and ideas. We believe that a high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. We encourage children to learn from and be inspired by the work of great artists from different cultures and understand the contribution art has made to society, both past and present. As pupils progress, we support them to be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design.

At St Mary’s, art is taught every other half term with key skills taught progressively in each year group. Teachers plan sequences of lessons across the half term that will build on and develop the children’s skills culminating in a final piece.

The skills and knowledge that children will develop throughout each art unit are mapped across each year group and across the school to ensure progression. 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, with the 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, collage and sculpture.

Art within EYFS, links with expressive art and design where children develop a curiosity and interest