SONNING COMMON
COMMUNITY SCHOOL
POLICY No. 11 Version 5
Autumn 2005
POLICY STATEMENT ON ART
We will plan our curriculum in accordance with the demands of the National
Curriculum guidelines.
Our aims are to develop in all our children
Ø a broad understanding of the meaning, significance and contribution of art, craft and design within contemporary culture and that of the past.
Ø the ability to hold, articulate and communicate ideas, opinions and feelings about their own work and that of others.
Ø particular individual aptitudes within art, craft and design which will contribute to the pupil’s social and personal development.
Ø visual literacy - confidence and competence in reading and evaluating visual images.
Ø skills in the handling of media and understanding the basic concepts governing the use of different media.
Ø a sense of craftsmanship and an appreciation of those skills and efforts required to achieve work of quality.
Ø individual expressive powers and a sense of joy in the appreciation of beautiful things.
Our syllabus will contain
Ø Painting
Ø Drawing
Ø Collage
Ø Printmaking
Ø Three dimensional work
Ø Textiles
Ø Response to artefacts
We will resource these to the best of our ability and ensure that there is adequate stock readily available.
National Curriculum.
We will ensure continuity and progression across KSI and KS2.
Evaluation, Monitoring and Assessment
In practice these three aspects are interrelated and should be seen as a whole.
Excerpts from Schools Councils publication “Children’s growth through Creative Experience” 1978
‘Art Education is concerned with the creative growth of the child and it follows from this that progress is made when the child widens his experience. Children’s work cannot therefore be assessed over a short period, and progress should be looked for over a term, or over a year rather than month by month. The growth of technical skills is only one criterion. Progress also becomes apparent as the child acquires increasing sensitivity to pattern and colour, and awareness about the way in which forms and mechanisms operate, and a growing capacity to evolve images which combine personal meaning with the power to affect others we believe that a child’s work can be criticised and assessed taking into account the child himself, and what he is capable of. Sincerity is the essential criterion; the work should be a genuine personal statement or response to the imaginative situation or problem and for the degree of involvement. Thirdly, and particularly with older children, the teacher may assess the way materials and tools have been used, the approach to the problem and the kind of technical or inventive solution that has been found.’
Examples of work will be photographed and kept as a record of achievement at different stages of children’s development.
Special Needs.
Children will be extended in every way possible appropriate to the stage they have reached.
Imagination and worthwhile art experience will be fostered and enabled to develop in all our children. Methods of teaching children with differing abilities to learn will vary according to need.
Cross Curricular Work
We will ensure that art is not used merely to service or decorate other subjects in the curriculum and recognise that it is a specialised area of learning in its own right.
We will ensure a healthy balance between cross curricular art, which is of great value, and art for its own sake.
Equal Opportunities.
The art in school will afford equal opportunities to boys and girls in content and organisation.
We will, in our curriculum planning, reflect the multicultural nature of modern society, not just its cultural heritage.
Outside Influences from the Community.
As far as is possible we will involve parents and artists from the community on a voluntary or professional basis. The object of this policy will be to encourage and provide opportunities for children to work with skilled and professional artists to develop different areas of the art curriculum.
We will encourage opportunities for working out of, as well as in school. Museum visits and visits to art galleries will be encouraged.
The School Environment
This will be visually stimulating with displays of all types that will be kept neat and changed frequently. The current practice in school is that on a termly basis teachers have designated areas in the school hall in which to organise a thematic display. Other artworks are displayed in the corridors and in classrooms.
We will continue to add to our collection of artifacts, and reproduction of paintings/sculpture/drawings. This will be of priority.
Schemes of work should:
Ø offer the teaching of essential skills and refine pupils proficiency in these skills.
Ø take account of the varying backgrounds and experience the children bring to art work - and offer a range of differentiated activities to meet their need.
Ø enable teachers to have a clear view of learning objectives rather than end products - and plan in flexibility to deal with unexpected developments as they arise.
Children should be aware that there are many different kinds of art - all used and created with different purposes in mind. Older children get discouraged when they fail to produce a photographic image so it is important that displays show different styles.
Language Development
From the earliest years it is our aim to exercise the children’s critical and appreciative faculties of visual things - so they may express their likes and dislikes and give reasons for their opinions.
In the course of their time in Primary School the following art vocabulary might be in use.
Design Sketch Foreground
Pattern Line Background
Brush stroke Landscape Perspective
Dotting Portrait 3D
Filling in Still life Space
Shade Story picture Matching
Tone (light to dark) Imagination Sculpture
Outline Dream picture Modelling
Colour Story board Weaving
Hot colours - reds + yellows Comic strip Hanging
Cool colours - blues + greys Shape Pottery
Colour experiment Figure Relief
Monoprint Detail Construction
Lino cut Print Calligraphy etc.