Art
Art at Lakenham
The intent of our Art curriculum is to deliver a creative curriculum which is accessible to all and that will maximise the outcomes for every child so that they are able to:
- Discover Art as a form of self-expression.
- Become more skilled in all areas of art, craft and design as they progress through each year group.
- Create their own art work, exploring ideas and recording experiences.
- Understand Art as a distinct subject (to ensure rigorous teaching of skills) as well as having many cross curricular links.
- Understand how Art has shaped our history and culture.
- Become familiar with the work of several historically famous and present day artists from a variety of backgrounds to reflect the diversity of our school.
- Be able to analyse and evaluate the work of artists and realise its wider impact on the world.
Our Art Curriculum
As a school we take inspiration from Access Art to ensure a broad and deep curriculum that allows pupils to gain the appropriate knowledge and skills at each stage. We have our created our own curriculum that brings together rich knowledge and enquiry based learning and also reflects the context and culture of Lakenham Primary. Please see year group curriculum maps for a glimpse of what art will be taking place.
Our curriculum is organised into Milestones to ensure a broad coverage of knowledge and skills. We have selected these Milestones because we believe they cover the foundations of art whilst allowing the children to express themselves in a creative way. Having solid foundations in drawing, sculpture and sketchbook habits gives the children ownership of their art journey and paves the way towards independence and mastery.
We have a connection with art students from the Norwich University of the Arts who join us for a term to teach art through the year group enquiry. It a is a mutually beneficial collaboration where the pupils can learn from experts whilst providing the art students voluntary work in the community. Below you can see some photographic examples of the artwork created by our children alongside the NUA students.
We celebrate our children's learning by joining Norfolk Open Studios to bring an art gallery experience to our school. The art celebrated showcases a glimpse into a year in Art at Lakenham and provides art installations for families and the public to explore. See below for this year's exhibition!
Open Studios 2023
Curriculum Coverage
Click on the image below to see the journey of art at Lakenham.
Milestone 1 - Drawing and Painting
Charcoal representations of the Stone Age - Year 3
Nursery - Exploring the properties of chalk. Learning how to use a pestle and mortar to crush chalk to create their own paint.
Drawings exploring movement and observation from Nursery to Year 6.
Milestone 2 - Sculpture and 3D
Inspired by Iron Man - Year 3
Using paper to create sculptures - Year 6
Milestone 3 - Sketchbooks
At Lakenham, we are focusing on developing consistent sketchbook habits across the school. We believe that sketchbooks should be visually interesting, personal and a creative way to demonstrate learning and knowledge; building upon ideas for finished pieces. We would like to see…
· Responses to artwork and Greats, inc. sketches, colour pallets, mark making, prototypes, etc…
· Thoughts and opinions
· Experimentation - which media works best?
· Practising - line drawings, technical sketches, techniques.
· Vocabulary linked to artist style or technique
· Annotations – How does it make you feel? What is your favourite part? What can you see? Does it remind you of anything?
Assessment in Art
Conversation is one of the main tools that teachers at Lakenham use to assess them and get a full understanding of their intentions, thoughts, process and ideas behind their work. This underpins our creative curriculum and informs the next stage of the planning.
To holistically assess art at Lakenham, we use our knowledge of the children along with their sketchbooks. These will show us how well they develop an idea, use technical skills, record ideas and reflections, use new vocabulary and analyse artists.
Formative assessment in art occurs throughout the learning process, through dialogue and conversation. We value pupils’ creative and individual responses in the subject therefore, we should give open-ended feedback and use effective questioning techniques.
An Inclusive Art Curriculum
Our Art curriculum is inclusive so every pupil can fully take part and learn. Teachers will plan carefully using multi-sensory approach to give every child the opportunity to make meaningful connections through Art.
What does this look like?
Before a learning sequence we will anticipate any specific materials that could pose a barrier for a child with particular SEND rights. We consider the ways we can minimise or reduce potential barriers to their learning to enable each child to do their best. We allow varying time for exploration of an art focus by offering a wide range of materials that can enhance and enrich children’s prior learning building new knowledge:
- Use real objects which children can touch, see and smell.
- Use the body in direct ways to create outcomes, impressions etc.
- Explore natural materials - what do they see? What do they notice? How do they feel?
- Regularly recap the associated vocabulary to encourage reflection between the process, the artist or their own creation (this also benefits children with English as an Additional Language to enable them to expand their growing vocabulary and understanding).
- Use of ICT to photograph a process to help independence and embed in their memory.
Alternative materials
Alternative materials may need to be introduced for children who find texture challenging. Alternative suggestions are to stimulate ideas but are by no means exhaustive. These are some indications and considerations of how we plan for our children:
Material |
Alternatives |
Clay |
Playdough, saltdough, wet sand, soil, plasticine, plaster of Paris to create casts |
Charcoal |
Oil pastels, chalk pastels, pencil, coloured pencils, pen (ink or ballpoint), paper rubbings to get impressions |
Paint |
Marbling ,watercolour, painting with different objects to create different effects or consider plastic bag painting for colour mixing |
Glue |
Consider how it is applied |
Texture |
Consider using corrugated cardboard |
Oxfam - Climate Justice Artwork - Houses of Parliament December 2023
Get Creative for Climate Justice | CAFOD from CAFOD TV on Vimeo.