Art

🎨 Our Art Curriculum

At Rectory CE Primary School, our Art Curriculum is thoughtfully sequenced and coherently mapped to ensure every child experiences a rich and meaningful journey through the visual arts.

Using the Kapow Primary scheme, we deliver high-quality, well-structured, and knowledge-rich lessons that build progressively from year to year. Each unit is carefully designed to develop pupils’ skills, creativity, and understanding of artistic techniques, while also nurturing their ability to express themselves confidently through art.

Our aim is to inspire a lifelong appreciation for the arts and to ensure that every child, regardless of their starting point, can see their own progress and take pride in their creative achievements.

Intent

We believe that Art and Design is a powerful tool for nurturing creativity, problem-solving, and innovation. It provides pupils with opportunities to think imaginatively, explore ideas, and express themselves through purposeful and tangible outcomes.

We are committed to fostering curiosity and creativity in every child, while equipping them with the skills needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving, technology-rich world.

Through our Art and Design curriculum, we aim to:

• 🛠️ Develop pupils’ design and making skills by deepening their understanding of artistic techniques and technologies

• 🎨 Encourage experimentation with a wide range of tools and materials, while promoting safe and responsible working practices

• 🤝 Support both individual and collaborative work across varied contexts, building teamwork and communication

• 🌟 Enable children to produce high-quality outcomes through drawing, painting, sculpture, and other creative forms

• 🧠 Teach pupils how to thoughtfully evaluate their own work, the work of their peers, and the contributions of other artists

By embedding these principles into our teaching, we ensure that Art and Design is not only a creative outlet but also a vital part of our pupils’ personal and academic development.

Implementation

At Rectory Primary School, we follow the National Curriculum to deliver all statutory content in Art and Design and Design and Technology. These subjects are taught in alternating half-term blocks, allowing pupils to immerse themselves in creative learning through focused weekly sessions.

We teach Art and Design alongside our combined Design and Technology curriculum, ensuring that topics build systematically on prior learning. Pupils revisit core concepts across year groups, applying previous knowledge to new contexts and deepening their understanding over time.

In Art, our curriculum is structured around four key strands:

• ✏️ Drawing

• 🎨 Painting and Mixed Media

• 🗿 Sculpture and 3D

• 🧵 Craft and Design

We strike a balance between:

• Skill-building lessons, such as those in our Art and Design Skills and Formal Elements of Art units

• Creative outcome-focused units, where pupils apply their skills in imaginative and expressive ways

Our approach is rooted in both the EYFS framework and the National Curriculum, with topics carefully linked to ensure a coherent and well-structured progression from EYFS through KS1 and KS2.

EYFS

Children explore a variety of media and materials through a blend of child-initiated and adult-directed activities, laying the foundation for creative expression.

KS1

Pupils learn to use materials creatively to design and make products, express ideas through drawing, painting, and sculpture, and develop techniques using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form, and space.

KS2

Children build on prior knowledge by creating sketchbooks to record and revisit ideas, and refine their mastery of techniques using a range of materials such as pencil, charcoal, paint, and clay.

Throughout the school, pupils follow a creative process of exploration, creation, analysis, and evaluation. Vocabulary lists are in place for each year group to support language development and deepen understanding.

To enrich learning, we explore the work of famous international, national, and—where possible—local artists, including craft makers and designers. This helps pupils connect with the wider world of art and appreciate diverse creative contributions.

Impact

At Rectory Primary School, the impact of our Art and Design curriculum is evident in the confidence, creativity, and skill development of our pupils. Through a carefully sequenced and knowledge-rich curriculum, children become proficient in a wide range of artistic techniques and media, and are able to articulate their ideas with increasing independence and imagination.

By the time pupils leave us, they will:

• 🎨 Demonstrate a secure understanding of key artistic concepts, including drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed media, and craft and design

• 🧠 Apply their knowledge and skills across subjects, using creativity to solve problems and express ideas

• 📚 Use subject-specific vocabulary confidently to discuss their work and the work of others, showing an appreciation for a diverse range of artists and artistic traditions

• ✏️ Show pride in their sketchbooks and final pieces, reflecting thoughtfully on their creative journey through self and peer evaluation

• 🌍 Develop cultural awareness and a deeper understanding of the world through exposure to local, national, and international artists

Our pupils leave primary school with a strong foundation in Art and Design, ready to build on their skills in secondary education and beyond. Most importantly, they carry with them a lifelong appreciation for creativity, expression, and the value of the arts in everyday life.

Key Documents