Art

Rationale

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep” (Scott Adams)

The study of the Visual Arts contributes greatly to the academy’s Cultural Capital agenda. As stated in that section, it is not enough for pupils to ‘go through the motions’ of making art.

Ofsted explain the importance of high-quality art teaching; “Children see before they speak, make marks before they write, build before they walk. But their ability to appreciate and interpret what they observe, communicate what they think and feel, or make what they imagine and invent, is influenced by the quality of their art, craft and design education.”

Pupils study Art as a discrete subject from their first year in Lower School with lessons being taught by subject specialists. This provides a huge opportunity to provide pupils from a young age with a long-term structured approach to their art education. This not only allows them to not just experience the techniques and processes of the visual arts, but to develop skills to generate and develop ideas, reflect critically and refine their responses in order to better visually articulate meaning that is personal to them.

Like the other subjects in the Faculty of Arts, the art curriculum has been mapped into three areas:

• Creativity (Heart)
• Technique (Hands)
• Understanding (Head)

These aspects are interdependent and they will constantly interact and interrelate with each other throughout a pupil’s curriculum journey. Art is ultimately assessed in a very holistic way.

Aims

The National Curriculum describes the purpose of teaching art as such:

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.

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.