Art

All children are artists” – Pablo Picasso

At Wood Ley Community Primary School wherever possible exploring the arts is built into all areas of the curriculum. Art, Craft and Design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. Our Art curriculum aims to engage, inspire and challenge pupils to equip them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of Art, Craft and Design.

Curriculum Intent

 Art Progression Pathway

At Wood Ley Community Primary School, we believe that all pupils can achieve in Art. Our Art curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials.  Children learn the skills of drawing, painting, printing, collage, textiles, 3D work and digital art, as well as being given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. We closely link our Art work to other areas of the curriculum to provide purpose and links to areas of learning. 

At Wood Ley children are introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the vocabulary and styles used by famous artists which they then use as a reference point for their own work. We encourage the children to ‘speak like an artist’ when discussing their art and the work of others. Emphasis is placed on developing art skills which are then applied to cross-curricular topics, allowing children to use their art skills to reflect on and explore topics in greater depth. Art work is purposeful both as a means of expression or to explore the styles of other artists to inspire their own work. Children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work against the Intended learning outcomes and to think about how they can develop their mastery of Art techniques and make changes to their work.

Curriculum Implementation

At Wood Ley we provide a rich creative environment. Learning objectives build on prior learning, which is demonstrated in our connected learning pathways, and focus on the six fundamental elements of Art and Design.

Drawing

Painting

Printing

Collage/textiles

Sculpture

Digital media.

Children explore colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space when practising these elements, developing their mastery of techniques and creativity.

Art lessons are hands on and based on art objectives specific to each year group and taught in a context in which learning is linked closely to current topics.  Children of all abilities have opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge and through planned progression are offered increasing challenge as they move up through the school.

Curriculum Impact

Our Art Curriculum is a high standard, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. As teachers, there is an emphasis placed on individuality and children are given the freedom to explore art using their imagination building on the key art skills that they learn in lessons.

‘This world is but a canvas to our imagination. Henry David Thoreau

We value the use of sketch books and all children have their own that follows them throughout their time at Wood Ley. In addition, each class has a class sketchbook that the children take turns to take home. Pupil perception interviews are carried out in which pupils discuss the curriculum and their learning as well as the opportunity to show and talk about work that they are proud of.  To quote some of our amazing Wood Ley artists:

“I like Art, my grandad is an Artist, he does shading to make it look 3D. I would like to be an Artist like him. I quite like it.” Teddy.

 “I do like it. I want to be an Art person when I grow up. Artists have themes. My cousin is good at Art.  You can do Art in the outside in the forest – it was fun.  Our teachers say our Art work is amazing.” Elsie.

 “Art makes me happy. It makes me calm and it helps me to concentrate on my other work too.” Isaac

 “It’s spectacular.” Connor.

 “Put your mind to it and you can do amazing things. Art is cool.” Lachlan.

 “It’s about special feelings, your imagination. It’s not just about painting, drawing and crafting, it’s literally everything.” Daisy.

 As a school we enjoy celebrating the Art that is created in sketchbooks, through displays, assemblies and sharing work with pupils and parents. 

Celebrating Art and The Arts at Wood Ley

We have enjoyed taking part in the Stowmarket Jubilant Festival, which showcases the different arts.  We were very proud of our children who feature in this video which celebrates the event: Jubilant! Festival 2023 (youtube.com)

Here is a gallery of the wonderful art that has been created at Wood Ley.

Art Outside in our Wonderful School Grounds

 

Questions to ask about art:

Look at a piece of art.

 What do you see?

Take a moment, look again.

 What do you see now? Has it changed? Why?

  Describe the:

Lines you see in the artwork.

Colours you see in the artwork.

Which area of the artwork stands out to you the most? Why?

 What does the artwork make you think of?

 What emotion / mood does it make you feel?

 Close your eyes and describe the artwork from memory. What do you remember?

 What adjectives would you use to describe this artwork?

 If this artwork had sound effects what would they be and why?

 How was this piece of art created?

 If this artwork was a piece of music or a song, what would it be? Why?

 What title would you give this artwork?

Have a look below for some fun art activities:

 

Learn how to draw some of your favourite cartoon characters using only letters and numbers

https://www.youtube.com/user/muffalopotato

Learn how to create illustrations 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RoUHRUk1mA

Jacqueline Wilson explains how inspiring art galleries are.

 

https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/kids-view/jacqueline-wilsons-magical-tour-tate-britain

 

Have a look on the Tate Kids website. It has lots of information about artists and some cool activities.

 

https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/make

Have a look on Google Arts and Culture for some amazing online artwork and galleries.

https://artsandculture.google.com/explore