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.

National Curriculum Programmes of Study for Art & Design