Art at St Joseph's

Children who learn to look DISCOVER.

Children who learn to look learn to QUESTION.

Children who learn to look begin to UNDERSTAND.

• Looking leads to the ability to express responses visually, verbally, technically, literally, factually and personally.
• Looking leads to spiritual, scientific and historical experience.
• Looking leads to comparison and discernment.
• Looking through drawing prolongs looking.
• Looking encourages concentration.
• Looking absorbs, calms and sensitises the child.

From: Learning Now, The Cambridgeshire Experience.

                                                     Art and design programmes of study: key stages 1 and 2
                                                                              National curriculum in England

Purpose of study
Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.
Aims
The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
• become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
• evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
• know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

Attainment targets
By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.
Schools are not required by law to teach the example content in Art and design – key stages 1 and 2

Subject content
Key stage 1
Pupils should be taught:

• to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products
• to use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
• to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space
• about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work.

Key stage 2
Pupils should be taught to develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.
Pupils should be taught:

• to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
• to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay]
• about great artists, architects and designers in history.

Sketchbooks

Children should be encouraged to develop the habit of using their sketchbooks (or visual diary) for:

• recording, exploring and storing visual and other information e.g. notes and selected materials which can readily be retrieved and used as reference,
• working out ideas, plans and designs,
• reference – as they develop ideas for their work
• looking back at and reflecting on their work, reviewing and identifying their progress.
• as an ongoing record of their learning and achievement, which they can use to further develop their ideas, skills and understanding.

Sketchbooks will move through the school as the children progress from one year to another, and across key stages. The sketchbooks will contain no mounted end-pieces. Children only get new sketchbooks when they finish the one they have (not when they change years) and they keep the old ones elastic banded to the back of the new one as they progress through the school. This provides a huge bank of learning that can be revisited at any point through their education within that school. It also illustrates how much each child has learnt and where their strengths and weaknesses are as well.