Art and Design
Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge children, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As children progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.
Developing the young artist at Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre
During their time at Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre, children will acquire the following key knowledge, skills and understanding in art and design as part of our unique Prime Learning Challenge curriculum.
Early childhood education curriculum milestones
Developing the knowledge and skills I need to be a successful young artist
The progress of pupils accessing our Early Childhood Education Centre is monitored using our unique curriculum milestone objectives to ensure they are suitably prepared with the foundational knowledge, skills and understanding they require to succeed in key stage one.
I can explore different materials and tools by using all my senses to investigate, manipulate and play with these.
I also express ideas and feelings through making marks, and sometimes give a meaning to the marks I make and I start to make these marks intentionally.
I can hold mark-making tools with my thumb and all fingers and can also use one-handed tools and equipment; for example, making snips in paper with scissors.
I show different emotions in my drawings and paintings such as happiness or sadness and can use drawing to represent ideas like movement or loud noises. I can also create drawings to accompany stories.
I can draw with increasing complexity and detail, such as representing a face with a circle and adding details. I can join different materials and explore different textures.
I can respond imaginatively to art works and objects; for example, ‘that sculpture is squishy like this’, ‘that peg looks like a mouth’.
I develop my own ideas through experimentation with diverse materials (light, projected image, watercolour, powder paints, etc.) to express and communicate my discoveries and understanding. I can explore, use and refine a variety of artistic effects to express my ideas and feelings, including creating representations of both imaginary and real-life ideas, events, people and objects.
I develop my small motor skills so that I can use a range of tools competently, safely and confidently (such as paintbrushes, pencils, pens, scissors, knives, forks).
I can use a range of small tools, including scissors, paintbrushes and cutlery. I can safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function and am beginning to show accuracy and care when drawing
I can share my creations and explain the process I have used.
Achieving these milestones throughout my early childhood education will support me in accessing my first steps in key stage one because they provide a foundation for me being able to:
- explore mark-making using a variety of tools.
- use artwork to record ideas, observations and experiences.
- use a variety of tools including pencils, rubbers, crayons, pastels, felt tips, charcoal, ballpoints, chalk and other dry media to represent objects in lines.
- experiment with different materials to design and make products.
Key stage one
How children will build on the foundational knowledge, skills and understanding they developed throughout their Early Childhood Education
Throughout key stage one, pupils are taught to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products and to use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination.
They learn how to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space and about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, as well as how to describe the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work.
Sketch books
All pupils attending Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre have their own sketch book which is used to document their artistic learning journey during their time at our school from early mark making to sophisticated representational drawing.
As part of our pedagogical approach to the teaching of art and design, we value the process of skill development and never launch into creating a finished piece of work before the necessary skills to complete this work have been acquired by pupils.
Pupils’ sketch books provide them with a space to undertake preliminary work, investigations, explorations and other thinking about art and design before providing a space for them to showcase their finished pieces.
The document below provides some examples of pages of pupils’ sketch books and the progress these demonstrate in relation to skill development.
Our Artsmark Gold Award
Someries Infant School and Early Childhood Education Centre has been awarded the Artsmark Gold Award in recognition of its commitment to arts and cultural education.
The Arts Council England panel made the following comments in response to our submission for Artsmark:
The panel was impressed by your school’s commitment to the value of the arts for the very young. You have developed your provision, engaging arts specialists in music and art, with teachers benefiting from the professional development they have offered. Your teachers’ confidence in planning their own ‘Take One Picture’ materials is admirable, as is your use of art projects to foster cultural identity and inclusion, engaging with the wider community along with your work with a local charity for the elderly. Your pupils are given opportunities for independent creativity in your atelier and for responsibility in the woodwork shop.
Going forward, the Arts Award and the children’s curation of their own gallery, both mentioned in the Statement of Commitment, would be good developments, as would the further development of ways of evidencing the impact of the arts within the wider curriculum. The continuing development of partnerships with arts specialists and organisations will contribute to teachers’ professional development and help you to embed the arts across the curriculum.
Congratulations on your Artsmark Gold Award!
As a Gold Artsmark school, Arts Council England celebrates your commitment to arts and cultural education at a leadership level and the opportunities embedded across your provision. Your children and young people have equal opportunity to plan, experience, participate in, and evaluate a diverse range of high-quality arts and cultural activities and you recognise the importance of development opportunities delivered by specialists for your staff in these areas. You engage with a range of arts and cultural organisations and can evidence the positive impact of these partnerships. Your children and young people have an opportunity to further develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of arts and culture and you are working to share the expertise you have established.
