At St Leonard’s Lower School, we are growing and learning together with God’s Love. Our Christian values are embedded in all that we do.

We recognise that every child is a unique individual within God’s creation and our aim is to provide the rich soil (the learning environment and curriculum) that enables our children to develop deep roots, flourish and grow in their own unique way.

We aim to provide a relevant, creative, exciting and challenging curriculum to support all learners to achieve their full potential and to be prepared for their future.

We will provide an inclusive education for all, enabling each child to learn and develop the skills and knowledge they need to thrive.

We aim to promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding through appropriate curricular opportunities with particular reference to equality and diversity.

Intent

At St Leonard's our Art and Design curriculum aims to inspire our children and to develop their confidence to experiment and invent their own works of art. Our artists will be confident in using a wide range of art techniques and materials to explore their ideas and record their experiences. We will provide opportunities for all children to develop their ability, nurture their talents and interests, express their ideas and thoughts about the world, as well as learning about art and artists across cultures and through history.

We use the Kapow Primary scheme to support teaching in Art and Design. The scheme supports our children to meet the national curriculum end of key stage attainment targets and covers the National Society for Education in Art and Design's progression competencies. The scheme also supports the Artsmark criteria inspiring our children to create, experience and participate in great arts and culture. 

Implementation

Our Art and Design curriculum is designed with key strands that run throughout. These are:

• Generating ideas
• Using sketchbooks
• Making skills, including formal elements (line, shape, tone, pattern, texture, colour)
• Knowledge of Artists
• Evaluating and Analysing

Units of lessons are sequential, allowing children to build on their skills and knowledge, applying them to a range of outcomes. The formal elements, a key part of the national curriculum, are also woven throughout units. Key skills are revisited again and again with increasing complexity in a spiral curriculum model which allows our children to revise and build on their previous learning. Units in each year group are organised into four core areas:

• Drawing
• Painting and Mixed Media
• Sculpture and 3D
• Craft and Design

Our progression of skills and knowledge (below) shows how the skills taught in each year group develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage. It also shows how knowledge builds in the formal elements of art. 

We use the Kapow primary units, where relevant and appropriate, to make cross curricular links with other subjects such as Science and History, so that art outcomes, whilst still being skills based and knowledge rich are unique to our children. 

Lessons are always practical in nature and encourage experimental and exploratory learning with children using sketchbooks to document their ideas. Lessons are adapted so that they can be accessed by all children, there are also opportunities to stretch children's learning when required. Knowledge organisers support pupils by providing a visual record of the key knowledge and techniques learned, encouraging recall of skills, processes, key facts and vocabulary. 

Our teachers are supported by Kapow's teacher videos to support subject knowledge and CPD. 

Pupil videos allow our children to see art techniques modelled by experts to ensure that the delivery of art is of the highest quality. 

Our Art and Design lessons are timetabled weekly and delivered over a half term every term (working alongside our Design and Technology curriculum). In addition our children have opportunities to take part in a range of Art and Design through seasonal events and themed weeks. Art and Design work is regularly celebrated within our colourful and vibrant school environment and promoted through our school website and social media. 

Impact

Throughout their learning our children are involved in evaluation, dialogue and decision making about the quality of their outcomes and the improvements that they needs to make. By taking part in regular discussions and decision making processes our children will know not only facts and information about art but will be able to talk confidently about their own learning journey, have higher metacognitive skills and have a growing understanding of how to improve. 

We monitor impact of teaching and learning through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. In each lesson we assess the children against the learning objective, this helps us to keep records of formative assessments for each child, to adapt our teaching and learning and to provide support to individual pupils. At the end of each unit of work we make a summative assessment as to whether pupils are working at the expected level of understanding, at a greater depth level of understanding or below the expected level of understanding. 

Our expected impact is that our children will:

• Produce creative work, exploring and recording their ideas and experiences
• Be proficient in drawing, painting and sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
• Evaluate and analyse creative works using subject specific language
• Know about great artists and the historical and cultural development of their art
• Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National Curriculum for Art and Design
• Leave St Leonard's Lower School equipped with a range of techniques and the confidence and creativity to create a strong foundation for their Art and Design learning at middle school and beyond.