Saint George’s Primary Phase believes that Art is a vital part of all children’s education.  It holds a significant and valuable role across the wider curriculum, and we are able to offer a variety of enrichment opportunities within the school and beyond in order to explore their creative talents. The art curriculum will develop children’s critical analysis, as well as encourage a deeper understanding of their own and others’ cultural heritages through the study of a diverse range of art and artists.

Children will develop their understanding of the visual language of Art with effective teaching and carefully planned sequences of lessons and experiences. Understanding of the visual elements of Art and Design will be developed by providing a meaningful and relevant curriculum which will provide opportunities for all children to reach their full potential.

The skills and knowledge that children will develop throughout each Art topic are mapped across each year group and are progressive throughout the school. The emphasis on knowledge ensures that children understand the context of the artwork, as well as the artists that they are studying. This enables links to other curriculum areas such as Music, Science, History, and Geography, with children developing a considerable knowledge of influential artists, as well as individual works and art movements. Our systematic approach to the development of artistic skills means that children are able to explore a variety of opportunities in which to express their creativity as well as being able to practise and develop some key processes of art such as drawing, painting, printing, textiles and sculpture.

Saint George’s diverse Art curriculum is supported through the availability of a wide range of quality resources, which are used to support children’s exploration when using a variety of different media.

The structure of the Art curriculum ensures that all children are able to develop their knowledge and understanding of the work of artists, craftspeople and designers from a range of times and cultures and apply this knowledge to their own work. The consistent use of children’s sketchbooks means that children are able to review, modify and develop their initial ideas in order to achieve high-quality outcomes. Children learn to understand and apply the key principles of Art: line, tone, texture, shape, form, space, pattern, colour, contrast, composition, proportion and perspective. The opportunity for children to refine and develop their techniques over time is supported by effective lesson sequencing and progression between year groups.

Displays throughout the school reflect the children’s sense of pride in both the processes they have learnt when experimenting with different media and also their finished artwork. The school environment celebrates children’s achievements in art and demonstrates the subject’s high status in the school.  The Art curriculum contributes to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement, and self-reflection which is strongly linked to our school values of creativity and resilience.