At Crampton Primary school, we believe creativity is a unique trait to which we are all entitled.
We aim to provide our children with an experience that is exciting and to ensure that they combine practical skills learnt throughout their time at Crampton with the ability to think creatively and develop valuable and transferable skills ready for their secondary experience and future careers.
Through our Art curriculum we aim to enable individual children to make choices regarding materials and processes and to be empowered towards making personal, creative responses. We provide children with opportunities for new experiences and personal exploration balanced with time for repeated practice of the technical skills and contextual knowledge acquired.
At Crampton Primary school, we aim to provide an Art and Design Curriculum which develops learning and results in children knowing more, remembering more and understanding how the knowledge and skills can be applied in their own art work.
Creativity across all the curriculum allows all children, regardless of ability, to apply what they have learnt and solidify key ideas. It can bring key concepts to life and provide valuable, alternative ways for children to record and demonstrate their understanding.
When delivering the Art and Design curriculum at Crampton, there is a real focus on teaching the children new skills and techniques. To ensure art lessons provide the children with a real sense of purpose, some of the pathways are adapted to make cross curricular links with our other subjects. These cross curricular links help immerse the children in their art sessions and ensure they are memorable. An example of this is Year 1 sketching and printing flowers which links to their science ‘plants topic’ and year 6 drawing 2d to 3d topic is linked with their World War Learning Journey topic.
Throughout their time at Cramton Primary School, the children are given a range of opportunities to explore a wide variety of materials and techniques, developing their skills and thinking as young artists, using the ‘Access Art’ Pathways to form the basis of our Art curriculum. The curriculum pathways are progressive and so allows the children to build on skills, knowledge and techniques year on year. Throughout each pathway, the children build on previous understanding through five areas of content: making skills, generating ideas, formal elements, knowledge of artists and evaluating their work. Various media types are explored within each unit to give the widest possible range of experiences for all children. The materials and media used are revisited throughout units and year groups to ensure progression of skills previously developed. Children have access to key knowledge, language and meanings, through displays, in order to understand and readily apply new terminology to their work in Art and across the wider curriculum.
Through our commitment to the art curriculum, we aim to see a tangible impact on our children, we anticipate a noticeable impact in their knowledge, confidence and enthusiasm for art. The time dedicated to art will translate into a heightened enjoyment on the subject, fostering a sense of pleasure in creative exploration. Our goal is to witness a willingness among Crampton children to take creative risks, leading to a deeper understanding and appreciation for arts. Ultimately, we expect this curriculum to contribute significantly to the development of each student’s sense of identity.
Our EYFS curriculum is taken from the Access Art Curriculum. It promotes open-ended creative learning, placing emphasis on the creative journey and nurturing children to become confident independent creators. In order to prepare the children for the areas of art within the primary curriculum we give the children opportunities and experiences which enable them to:
We assess by asking questions and think in terms of a simple criteria:
Within each area the children complete activities which enable an open-ended, playful exploration of materials, processes and ideas, which in turn nurture dexterity skills, promote an early understanding of visual literacy skills, and begin to build the child’s confidence in their ability to make a personal, creative response to a stimuli. These opportunities provide a foundation for pupils to develop skills further when entering KS1/KS2.
Autumn Term | Spring Term | Summer Term | ||
Drawing | Print & Paint | Surface & Colour | Working in 3 Dimensions | |
Year One | SpiralsUsing drawing, collage and mark-making to explore spirals. Introducing sketchbooks. | Simple PrintmakingExplore simple ways to make a print. Use line, shape, colour and texture to explore pattern, sequencing and symmetry. | Exploring watercolour and discovering we can use accidental marks to help us make art. | Making BirdsSculptural project beginning with making drawings from observation, exploring media, and transforming the drawings from 2d to 3d to make a bird. |
Year Two | Explore & DrawIntroducing the idea that artists can be collectors & explorers as they develop drawing and composition skills. | Exploring the World through Mono PrintUsing a simple mono print technique to develop drawing skills, encourage experimentation and ownership. | Expressive PaintingExplore how painters sometimes use paint in an expressive and gestural way. Explore colour mixing and experimental mark making to create abstract still life. | Stick Transformation ProjectExplore how you can transform a familiar object into new and fun forms. |
Year Three | Gestural Drawing with CharcoalMaking loose, gestural drawings with charcoal, and exploring drama and performance. | Working with Shape and Colour“Painting with Scissors”: Collage and stencil in response to looking at artwork. | Cloth, Thread, PaintExplore how artists combine media to create work in response to landscape. Use acrylic and thread to make a painted and stitched piece. | Making Animated DrawingsExplore how to create simple moving drawings by making paper “puppets” and animate them using tablets. |
Year Four | Storytelling Through DrawingExplore how artists create sequenced drawings to share and tell stories. Create accordian books or comic strips to retell poetry or prose through drawing. | Exploring PatternExploring how we can use colour, line and shape to create patterns, including repeating patterns. | Exploring Still LifeExplore artists working with the genre of still life, contemporary and more traditional. Create your own still life inspired art work. | Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & DeterminationWhat can artists learn from nature? |
Year Five | Typography & MapsExploring how we can create typography through drawing and design, and use our skills to create personal and highly visual maps. | Making MonotypesCombine the monotype process with painting and collage to make visual poetry zines. | Mixed Media Land & City ScapesExplore how artists use a variety of media to capture spirit of the place. | Architecture: Dream Big or Small?Explore the responsibilities architects have to design us a better world. Make your own architectural model. |
Year Six | 2D Drawing to 3D MakingExplore how 2D drawings can be transformed to 3D objects. Work towards a sculptural outcome or a graphic design outcome. | ActivismExplore how artists use their skills to speak on behalf of communities. Make art about things you care about. | Exploring IdentityDiscover how artists use layers and juxtaposition to create artwork which explores identity. Make your own layered portrait. | Take a SeatExplore how craftspeople and designers bring personality to their work. |