Art & Design
National Curriculum 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.

Curriculum Intent
At Houghton Primary School we follow the National Curriculum Art programmes of study. This, together with clearly identified skills progression and a topic approach which makes good connections with other subjects, supports the development of our children’s knowledge and understanding within this subject. We follow the National Curriculum Art programmes of study, but aim to develop children’s artistic skills through a holistic approach which is influenced by other areas of our curriculum. We have found inspiration in Maths, Geography, Science, History and English. High quality picture books and their illustrators, alongside renowned artists, provide key stimuli for our Art Curriculum. We aim for children to develop key artistic skills while applying, practising and refining using a range of media Our clearly identified skills progression teamed with a topic approach which makes good connections with other subjects, supports the development of our children’s knowledge and understanding within this subject.
We take every opportunity to ensure that our school curriculum drivers of oracy, diversity, community, environment and enquiry remain central to our approach for this subject area.

Curriculum Implementation
At Houghton Primary School we follow the National Curriculum Design Technology programmes of study, but aim to develop the children’s skills and experiences further by making purposeful, appropriate and fun links to the wider curriculum and to areas of interest to pupils. We aim to give the children a mixture of engaging full design projects and FPTs (Focused Practical Tasks) which combine the teaching of practical skills with knowledge of the design process. Over the course of each year, pupils engage in 3 units of work, at least one of these being focused on cookery and nutrition. These units give our pupils different experiences of product research as well as a wide range of opportunities to build products themselves through making prototypes, testing, designing and evaluating. Evaluation is a key skill which is embedded within each unit. We encourage pupils to take responsibility for their own work, make their own judgments, handle uncertainty and disappointments and adapt their plans in light of reflection, both personal and from their peers. Knowledge and skills are progressively revisited during our children’s time in school to ensure their learning is embedded and fully developed. We aim that, over time, pupils will be able to autonomously design, make and evaluate their own projects. To enable this teachers aim to stand back and allow the children the time and space to think and try their own solutions to problems.

Curriculum Impact
Assessment of art skills is ongoing (formative) during lessons. Teachers use the skills statements to assess and use this responsively to support children as necessary.
At the end of each unit teachers assess children’s skills through the use of comparative judgements.

Proudly sharing individual autumnal paintings demonstrating an understanding of how to create perspective.

Whole class contributions to a work of art.

Every child worked with a local artist to create a glazed, fired clay poppy as part of some work on Remembrance.
Houghton Primary School
Chapel Lane, Houghton,
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
PE28 2AY
Office opening times:
Mon - Fri, 8.30am to 4.00pm
01480 463398
office@houghton.cambs.sch.uk