Intent
At Our Lady and St Anne’s Catholic Primary School, our aim is to inspire creativity and innovation through high quality art lessons and experiences. Our art curriculum celebrates a wide range of artists from diverse backgrounds so our children can see themselves within their art. It is important to all at Our Lady and St Anne’s that children are exposed to a range of artists to reflect our equally diverse culture at school. We value everyone for their individuality and special gifts. It equips our learners with knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art and design. All children at our school have access to the same high-quality art education so they can express themselves fully.
At Our Lady and St Anne’s, our children can confidently select appropriate media and experiment with a range of techniques. Art will be used as a technique to express our individuality and emotions to support social and emotional wellbeing. We encourage our children to be resilient and ambitious. It will build confidence in all our children because, in art, children are never wrong.
Implementation
At Our Lady and St Anne’s art is taught through the lens of an artist, which links to our topic and theme of that term. Our children have the opportunity to develop and learn new skills and enhance their knowledge. The artists chosen reflect the learning across other foundation subjects, embedding background subject knowledge and cultural capital within our creations. The art curriculum has been designed to ensure our children have exposure to drawing, painting, sculpture and other craft techniques. At Our Lady and St Anne’s our children have access to a range of materials to creatively design and make products. Our children will appreciate the skills of other creative individuals and use art as an outlet to share our faith and care for God’s creations. We recognise that everyone is unique as is their artwork.
Within our art lessons children are taken on an art expedition, where they are able to explore, enquire, express and enjoy art. Children are encouraged to discuss, in groups and as a class, and compare key artists. Children are encouraged to actively participate in group discussions practicing listening, sharing and contributing to a collective understanding of art. Children use subject terminology to describe techniques and media they are using. Our learners are able to articulate their likes, dislikes and similarities and differences of a range of artists and how art makes them feel. As we create our art, we reflect on how our artwork can inspire care for God’s creation. At the end of a creative art lesson, our children are able to analyse and evaluate works of art. Throughout the school, children will develop their evaluation skills to develop their skill of a range of techniques.
Artwork is displayed all around Our Lady and St Anne’s as we enjoy celebrating creativity in all forms. Our artist of the term recognises the dedication and progression of art throughout all year groups. It is proudly framed in our art gallery for all to appreciate.
At Our Lady and St Anne’s we are keen to expose children to the wonder of art galleries and frequently visit artist’s exhibitions. This celebrates a range of local artists in Newcastle as well as building our children’s cultural capital.
Impact
Our children will have developed their techniques and control through experimentation, observations and evaluations of a diverse range of artists and their own work. The children will have the confidence to explore colour, pattern, shape, form and space by using their experiences and imagination. At Our Lady and St Anne’s art promotes Catholic social teaching through its ability to inspire compassion and empathy. Throughout their artistic journey, our children develop their wider cultural awareness and spiritual enrichment, learning to see the beauty of God’s creation in the world around them.
