Art and Design is taught at Twiss Green School through a scheme called Kapow. During our Art and Design lessons, knowledge is broken down into practical, theoretical and disciplinary knowledge. This is to ensure children develop their skills, methods and processes within art in addition to knowledge of artists, how art is studied, discussed and judged to enable pupils to generate ideas and use sketchbooks to develop their own artistic identity.
INTENT
At Twiss Green, we aim to deliver a broad, balanced and stimulating Art and Design curriculum which is accessible to all and builds on the foundations of our core values: Respect, Resilience and Relationships.
We aim to inspire pupils and develop their confidence to experiment and invent their own works of art. Our art curriculum is written by experts in their field and designed to give pupils every opportunity to develop their ability, nurture their talent and interests, express their ideas and thoughts about the world, as well as learning about the rich heritage and culture of the British Isles and beyond. At Twiss Green our art and design curriculum supports pupils to meet the National curriculum end of key stage attainment targets and the curriculum has been written to fully cover the National Society for Education in Art and Design’s progression competencies.
IMPLEMENTATION
At Twiss Green, we use Kapow Primary Art Curriculum to ensure we have a progressive curriculum which builds children’s artistic skills as they move through school.
Our Art and Design scheme of work is designed with four strands that run throughout. These are:
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Making skills
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Formal elements (line, shape, tone, texture, pattern, colour)
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Knowledge of artists
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Evaluating
These strands are revisited in every unit. In our Art and design skills and our Formal elements of art units, pupils have the opportunity to learn and practise skills discretely. The knowledge and skills from these units are then applied throughout the other units in the scheme. Key skills are revisited again and again with increasing complexity in a spiral curriculum model. This allows pupils to revise and build on their previous learning.
At Twiss Green Community Primary School, we choose to follow the combined long term plan which alternates half termly learning between Art & Design and Design Technology (DT). This is done to ensure full curriculum coverage of a broad and balanced curriculum. During the half term, Art is taught weekly over a series of lessons that build on children’s prior knowledge and skills.
Our Art and design curriculum develops pupil’s knowledge and understanding of key artists and art movements through the Every picture tells a story units and links to artists through practical work. Our units fully scaffold and support essential and age-appropriate sequenced learning and are flexible enough to be adapted to form cross-curricular links with your own school’s curriculum. Creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded into our units, supporting students in learning how to make their own creative choices and decisions, so that their art outcomes, whilst still being knowledge-rich, are unique to the pupil and personal.
Lessons are always practical in nature and encourage experimental and exploratory learning with KS2 pupils using their sketchbooks to document their ideas. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.
By choosing the Kapow Primary scheme, it supports teachers who may lack confidence in their own artistic abilities. Pupil videos created by subject specialists help pupils to see art techniques modelled by experts, to ensure the delivery of Art in your school is of the highest quality. Each unit of lessons includes multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support ongoing CPD. Kapow has been created with the understanding that many teachers do not feel confident delivering the full Art and design curriculum and every effort has been made to ensure that they feel supported to deliver lessons of a high standard that ensure pupil progression.
In addition to how art is taught in class lessons, school also offers Art Therapy to children with SEMH needs. Art Therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses art media as its primary mode of communication. School also enters the Primary Arts Network (PAN) annually to allow children to create art work based on a theme provided. These themes use art as a way to support important British Values. Finally, extra-curricular art and crafts clubs are often provided each year to enable pupils with a high interest in art and design to explore and develop this further.
Our art curriculum is designed in such a way that children are involved in the evaluation, dialogue and decision making about the quality of their outcomes and the improvements they need to make. By taking part in regular discussions and decision-making processes, children will not only know facts and key information about art, but they will be able to talk confidently about their own learning journey, have higher metacognitive skills and have a growing understanding of how to improve.
The impact of Kapow Primary’s scheme can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Each lesson includes guidance to support teachers in assessing pupils against the learning objectives and each unit has a unit quiz and knowledge catcher which can be used at the start and/ or end of the unit.
After the implementation of Kapow Primary’s Art and design scheme, pupils should leave primary school equipped with a range of techniques and the confidence and creativity to form a strong foundation for their Art and design learning at Key Stage 3 and beyond.
The expected impact of following the Kapow Primary Art and design scheme of work is that children will:
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Produce creative work, exploring and recording their ideas and experiences.
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Be proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques.
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Evaluate and analyse creative works using subject-specific language.
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Know about great artists and the historical and cultural development of their art.
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Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Art and design.
Art therapy - The overall aim and impact of the sessions is to enable a child to effect change and growth on a personal level through the use of art materials (pencil, pastel, paint, clay, mod rock, sand, paper) in a safe and facilitating environment. It offers the opportunity for expression and communication and can be particularly helpful to children who find it hard to express their thoughts and feelings verbally.
Extracurricular activities and PAN – Provides opportunities for children to take part in art and design activities away from school and develop knowledge and their interests further.