Intent Statement

At St Peter's C of E Primary School, we believe that art stimulates creativity, imagination and inventiveness. We believe that art gives our pupils the skills, concepts and knowledge necessary for them to express responses to ideas and experiences. It fires their imagination.

“Art is not just a subject to learn, but an activity that you can practise with your hands, your eyes, your whole personality,” Quentin Blake.

Art should enable the children to communicate what they see, feel and think. Children should experiment with their ideas, their use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. 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 of our nation. Self-evaluation of work is encouraged, and children are taught how to be resilient to achieve their goals.

The subject leader ensures that the national curriculum requirements are covered across the different key stages and that appropriate resources are in place to deliver a rich and challenging curriculum.  We ensure that the building blocks of creative artwork are laid early on in their education in order to allow them to grow and flourish as they mature. We encourage children to interpret the ideas of other artists, through their previously acquired skills.

At St Peter's, art is not just taught in a designated art lesson, but wherever appropriate it is linked to topics and the wider curriculum and as it gives children the opportunities to bring a topic to life. Children also explore ideas and meanings through the work of artists and designers. We encourage them to ask questions about what they see and be explorers of the world around them.

We use sketchbooks to record experience and imagination, to help the children develop their ideas and to show progression in their artistic ability. Their sketchbooks are personal and individual expression is encouraged. We encourage children to work on their own and collaborate with others on projects in two and three dimensions and on small and large scales.

Opportunities are created for the children to develop their use of a range of tools, media and processes through ICT. Children are encouraged to use their iPad and class interactive boards to explore artwork and use a range of drawing software to create their own artwork.