At St Johns, Art will excite, engage and inspire pupils, making learning irresistible. It will give children the knowledge, practical skills and vocabulary necessary for them to attain high and achieve well, both within our school, and across future educational settings. A carefully sequenced Art Knowledge, Skills and Vocabulary Routeway, alongside logically crafted learning journeys, will enable the children to acquire new knowledge, vocabulary and skills, whilst making links and comparisons to prior knowledge. Our curriculum will introduce a range of famous Artists, Designers, Craft Makers and Architects to engage the children- from Ancient history right through to Modern Day. These significant people in the ‘Art world’ will serve as role models to the children , encouraging them to aim high and aspire! By analysing the various techniques used by these Artists and experimenting with their own ideas, children will become more knowledgeable and confident, resulting in them flourishing in Art. By demonstrating our school value of drive, as well as high levels of self-regulation and self- evaluation, children at our school will develop into confident, independent Artists with their own artistic preferences.

In Reception, Art is experimented with and taught as part of ‘Continuous Provision’ with some adult-led learning and some child-initiated learning with sustained shared thinking. Across the rest of the school, Art is taught as part of our Topic curriculum alongside History, Geography and Design and Technology. This is a deliberate decision in response to the Stakeholder views as well as the high priority we place on deepening knowledge. In order for children to be excited and inspired, it is important they are fully immersed in the learning and can make links to other knowledge acquired – within Art and across the curriculum, rather than seeing learning in isolation. Within each year group, the timetabling of Art is flexible, depending on the topic learning journey. However, the timings average to approximately 1 hour per week. This ensures breadth and depth of knowledge and secure knowledge retention and skills progression.

Our Curriculum policy can be read here.