Art and Design

Art is important because it provides a space for children to explore their creativity, whilst honing their observational and craftmanship skills. Later, children develop their ability to critique and derive meaning from art works, helping them to understand the societal contexts in which they were imagined, and therefore the world around them.

At Harlowbury, children engage in a diverse programme, exploring different artforms and artists – both past and present – in order to cultivate their own creativity and develop their ability to render works using a range of media. From EYFS, children are excited to experiment with different ways of mark-marking and media and have a solid grasp of compositional elements / the various types of composition by the end of LKS2. In UKS2, children are introduced to artists and artforms which offer some sort of message / social commentary, and which are of historical significance.

When starting a new topic, children are encouraged to follow a process, which involves examining the work of a particular artist, artform or genre, and using what they have seen and experienced to develop their own ideas. Afterwards, children are expected to self and peer assess, therefore they develop their ability to critique work, their use of technical vocabulary and their understanding that the artistic process is always ongoing.

Harlowbury benefits from the town’s status as a sculpture town: often children visit the local sculptures and the Gibberd Gardens, in order to gain inspiration and/or to appreciate artworks in situ.

Key skills covered by the curriculum:

• Observational skills
• Recognising patterns
• Decoding and inferring meaning
• Communication – questioning, surmising
• Developing ideas, evaluating
• Craftsmanship skills – hand-eye co-ordination, fine motor skills

Skills Progression