Intent
The school believes that art is a vital part of children’s education, with a significant and valuable role in the taught curriculum and the enrichment opportunities we offer our pupils. The art curriculum will develop children’s critical abilities, as well as an understanding of their own and others’ cultural heritages through the study of a diverse range of artists.
Children will develop their understanding of the visual language of art with effective teaching and considered sequences of lessons and experiences. Understanding of the visual elements of art and design (line, tone, texture, colour, pattern, shape, 3D form) will be developed by providing a curriculum which will enable children to reach their full potential.

Implementation
The skills and knowledge that children will develop throughout each art topic are mapped across each year group and are progressive throughout the school. Art and design is entwinned into our Mini-adventures and link artists, eras and skills throughout the journey.  The emphasis on knowledge ensures that children understand the context of the artwork, as well as the artists that they are learning about and being inspired by. This ensures children develop a considerable knowledge of individual artists, as well as individual works and art movements.  A similar systematic approach to the development of artistic skills means that children are given opportunities to express their creative imagination, as well as practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting, printing, textiles and sculpture.

Each new learning journey begins with a recap of the previous related knowledge from previous years.  This helps children to retrieve what they have learnt in the earlier sequence of the programme of study, and ensures that new knowledge is taught in the context of previous learning to promote a shift in long term memory. The process of studying an artist or similar works, collating ideas and knowledge, practicing the skills needed and then being inspired to create a finished piece allows for children to think and develop as artists, knowing it isn't just about 'doing art in one afternoon'. Vocabulary is taught and often used in annotation in sketchbooks.

Within all lessons, teachers plan a phase of progressive questioning which extends to and promotes the higher order thinking of all learners.  Questions initially focus on the recall or retrieval of knowledge.  Questions then extend to promote application of the knowledge in a new situation and are designed to promote analytical thinking, such as examining something specific.  In art and design, an example of this level of questioning might ask children to consider how could you change the time of day in the watercolour painting/ why did you use this hardness of pencil around the eyes/ Why did you choose this hue for the sky?  The questions that teachers ask within the same lesson phase, then focus on the children’s own work and how they might change or create an outcome and justify a choice they have made which is based on their evaluation.

Coordinated whole-school project work ensures that art is given high status in the curriculum.  This includes the school’s participation in whole school focused days - stop and sketch - observational drawing (Autumn), Lost Words (Spring),Artist study from a different era (Summer) which enables further focus on children’s artistic skills and knowledge in collaboration with different year groups.

The school’s high-quality art curriculum is supported through the availability of a wide range of quality resources, which are used to support children’s confidence in the use of different media.  The school’s unique locality is also utilised, with planned opportunities for learning outside the classroom, as well as the involvement of adults with specialist skills from the local and wider community. TA few examples of this are sketching from Deer Park, Ironbridge observational drawings of the bridges and a photography course for Year 6.

Impact
The structure of the art curriculum ensures that children are able to develop their knowledge and understanding of the work of artists, craftspeople and designers from a range of times and cultures and apply this knowledge to their own work.  The consistent use of children’s sketchbooks from Year 2 means that children are able to review, modify and develop their initial ideas in order to achieve high quality outcomes.  Children learn to understand and apply the key principles of art: line, tone, texture, shape, form, space, pattern, colour, contrast, composition, proportion and perspective.  The opportunity for children to refine and develop their techniques over time is supported by effective lesson sequencing and progression between year groups.  This also supports children in achieving age related expectations at the end of their cohort year.

Classroom displays reflect the children’s sense of pride in their artwork and this is also demonstrated by creative outcomes across the wider curriculum.  The school environment also celebrates children’s achievements in art and demonstrates the subject’s high status in the school.   The Art curriculum at SSPP contributes to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection.  Children will achieve age related expectations in Art at the end of their foundation, KS! and KS2 end points.