Abbotswood Primary School
Together We Aim High, Believe and Achieve
Being an Artist
Being an artist at Abbotswood...
What is our intention?
At Abbotswood, our children are artists! We believe that the teaching of art should offer children a diverse array of activities and experiences, fostering the development of their imagination, creativity, and resilience. Our goal is to empower them to express their voice and opinions while exploring various methods of self-expression. We strive to offer high quality teaching that engages, inspires and challenges all pupils, which enables them to explore and develop ideas, investigate and create their own masterpieces. Our aim is to instil confidence in children to experiment with different media and techniques, embracing mistakes as opportunities for improvement and refinement of their artistic styles. We want children to feel supported in thinking critically about artist's work and make evaluations about their own throughout the whole process. By the end of their time at Abbotswood, we aim to provide the children with a solid knowledge and understanding of the artistic processes involved, be familiar with a wide range of diverse artists and craftspeople and to skilfully implement artistic techniques.
How do we implement this?
Art at Abbotswood is taught through our Enquiry curriculum. Our Abbotswood artists use art as a way of answering a wider question. Children at Abbotswood are provided with chances to delve into various art forms, including drawing, painting, 3D form, collage, printing and textiles. While our Enquiry curriculum frequently facilitates this exploration, we strive to incorporate additional opportunities whenever feasible. Our journey as artists begin at reception through the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and transitions to the National Curriculum from Year One to Year Six. Our carefully designed skills ladder outlines the expected progression for children each year, with the goal of fostering independent decision-making by Upper Key Stage 2. The progression involves ample exploration in EYFS and Key Stage 1, followed by a more refined focus in Lower Key Stage 2, empowering children to make more independent choices about their work in Upper Key Stage 2.
The use of sketchbooks plays an important role in showcasing the step-by-step process involved in creating a final art piece. Supplying each child with their own sketchbook not only emphasizes the importance of experimentation, exploration, and the discovery of various mediums, techniques, and styles but also fosters a sense of ownership over their artistic journey.
Art Skills Ladder
What impact does this have?
By the end of their time at Abbotswood, we want children to have experimented, improved and embedded a range of artistic skills. We aim for them to feel that they've encountered numerous opportunities to delve into various artistic mediums and learn from different artists, laying the foundation for the development of their individual artistic styles. Through exploring colour, texture, pattern, materials and processes, children will develop a range of new skills. In today's fast-paced world, proficiency in design, planning, making, investigating, and evaluating is crucial, and we believe that art is a positive means of instilling these skills early on, fostering an enjoyable learning process.
Art gives children an opportunity to take risks in a safe environment, and allows their resilience to develop as they try out new ideas and new ways of working whilst being allowed to make mistakes. It serves as a channel for children to discover and express their unique creative voices, often not easily found elsewhere. The diverse forms of self-expression in art are highly valued by the teachers at Abbotswood, providing children with genuine opportunities to showcase their individuality and creativity.
Let's celebrate!
We feel privileged to have the opportunity to showcase and celebrate the artistic creations of our pupils by presenting their work through displays across various locations in the school. We eagerly welcome Abbotswood parents to join us and observe not only the final creative pieces but also the effort and dedication that went into crafting them. At different points in the year, children may present their work created as part of the Enquiry curriculum. Additionally, we organize an annual themed Art Week that involves the entire school community. This provides a wonderful platform to nurture the confidence of our children and instil sense of pride in their capabilities and achievements.
ART CLUB!
Where can I find out more?
For anyone who has any further questions regarding Art and Design at our school, please do not hesitate to contact the subject leader – Miss Mason