Thornham St James C.E. Primary School
This section of our website outlines the knowledge, language and concepts that should be taught in Art and Design. It includes:
• A summary of the Art and Design knowledge and principles that underpin our approach
• Long Term Sequence (journey) for Art and Design
• Progression of Art and Design including alignment with the National Curriculum
• Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary progression
Intent
We have deliberately built our Art and Design curriculum around the principles of evidence-led practice. This is to ensure that pupils are equipped to successfully think, work and communicate like an artist. Unapologetically ambitious, our art curriculum focuses on excellence in this subject through a myriad of media and incredible artists. Our intention is unmissable; exceptional teacher instruction inspires pupils to acquire knowledge, as an artist, and enable them to skilfully attempt and apply their understanding. It is our intention that through studying Art and Design, pupils become more expert as they progress through the curriculum, accumulating, connecting and making sense of the rich substantive and disciplinary knowledge:
1. Disciplinary Knowledge
The chosen disciplines of our Art and Design Curriculum are:
Drawing
Painting and Mixed Media
Printing
Textiles
Sculpture/3D Form
We intent to provide children with the core subject knowledge and vocabulary about the creative artistic processes of the chosen disciplines through the explicit teaching of practical techniques and the use of correct terminology within their lessons. Our pupils will develop a secure understanding of the seven elements of art and will be able to consider these when working artistically to envision or create their own artwork. The seven elements of working artistically in our Art and Design Curriculum are:
Shape Line Colour Value Form Texture Space
We define and regularly explore these through questioning during pupils’ study:
• Shape is a flat (2D) area surrounded by an outline or edge: How are shapes used or combined? How does the combination of shapes make things look 3D?
• Lines are used to show movement and mood. Is the use of line static or dynamic? How do they determine motion and direction in a piece?
• Colour is used to convey atmosphere and mood. How has colour been combined and varied to create mood and reaction in the viewer?
• Value is the intensity of colour and depends on the amount of white added.
• Artists use form when they create sculptures or the effect of flat objects being 3D. How has the artist made flat parts of an image appear 3D e.g. shading?
• Texture is the look and feel of a surface. How is the feel of a piece related to the materials it is made from?
• Space in artwork makes a flat image look like it has form. How has the empty area around shapes been used?
Alongside this practical knowledge, our pupils will also be exposed to a diverse array of inspirational artists from a range of different genres, artistic movements, cultural traditions and eras in time. Children will acquire an understanding of art history and the significance of their focal artist for each unit. This theoretical awareness will provide them with contextual relevance of art and inspire them to draw upon their own experiences to produce high-quality pieces with a clear rationale.
2 . Substantive Concepts
As part of our Art and Design Curriculum, we aim to equip children with secure practical and theoretical knowledge, so they can interact with art itself as a discipline. Children will be encouraged to discuss, debate, critique and consider the subjective value of various pieces of art including their own, their peers as well as the work of celebrated artists. Our pupils will explore the dynamic impact art has had throughout time, to make sense of what art is whilst overall enriching their own appreciation of the subject.
Implementation
We implement our intent discretely using KAPOW programme of study. The KAPOW Curriculum (ncce.io/tcc) is a comprehensive collection of materials produced to support teaching, facilitating the delivery of the entire English Design Technology curriculum.
Kapow Primary supports teachers who may lack confidence in their own artistic abilities. Pupil videos created by subject specialists help pupils to see art techniques modelled by experts, to ensure the delivery of Art in your school is of the highest quality. Each unit of lessons includes multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support ongoing CPD. Kapow has been created with the understanding that many teachers do not feel confident delivering the full Art and design curriculum and every effort has been made to ensure that they feel supported to deliver lessons of a high standard that ensure pupil progression.
The materials are suitable for all pupils irrespective of their skills, background, and additional needs. The units for key stages 1 and 2 are based on a spiral curriculum. This means that each of the themes is revisited regularly (at least once in each year group), and pupils revisit each theme through a new unit that consolidates and builds on prior learning within that theme. This style of curriculum design reduces the amount of knowledge lost through forgetting, as topics are revisited yearly. It also ensures that connections are made even if different teachers are teaching the units within a theme in consecutive years.
The KAPOW Curriculum has been designed to reduce teacher workload. To ensure this, the KAPOW curriculum includes all the resources a teacher needs, covering every aspect from planning, to progression mapping, to supporting materials.
Our units fully scaffold and support essential and age appropriate, sequenced learning. Creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded into our units, supporting students in learning how to make their own creative choices and decisions, so that their art outcomes, whilst still being knowledge-rich, are unique to the pupil and personal.
Lessons are always practical in nature and encourage experimental and exploratory learning with pupils using sketchbooks to document their ideas. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils by providing a highly visual record of the key knowledge and techniques learned, encouraging recall of skills processes, key facts and vocabulary.
Lesson Structure
Our Computing lessons follow a structured format designed to promote depth of understanding and application of knowledge:
- Anchor: Pupils revisit prior knowledge, connecting it to new content. Teachers introduce new concepts, addressing common misconceptions.
- Model: Worked examples demonstrate what success looks like in practice.
- Guided: Pupils engage with new ideas, practicing them through guided tasks.
- Independent: Pupils apply their understanding in creative and meaningful ways.
- Connect: Pupils reflect on their learning, comparing, contrasting, and evaluating ideas.
This structure ensures that pupils engage critically with new concepts and develop resilience and independence in their learning, reflecting our values of wisdom and creativity.
Real-World Learning Opportunities
Field trips, guest speakers, and industry partnerships provide opportunities for pupils to see how Design Technology is used in the real world. This helps them understand the impact of technology on their lives and the wider community, reinforcing the value of service and helping pupils see the relevance of their learning to future careers.
Impact
Kapow Primary’s curriculum is designed in such a way that children are involved in evaluation, dialogue and decision making about the quality of their outcomes and the improvements they need to make. By taking part in our regular discussions and decision-making processes, children will not only know facts and key information about art, but they will be able to talk confidently about their own learning journey, have higher metacognitive skills and have a growing understanding of how to improve.
The impact of the scheme can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Each KAPOW lesson includes guidance to support teachers in assessing pupils against the learning objectives.
After the implementation of our Art and Design scheme, pupils should leave primary school equipped with a range of techniques and the confidence and creativity to form a strong foundation for their Art and design learning at Key Stage 3 and beyond.
At Thornham St. James, we are committed to ensuring that our curriculum effectively embeds learning in pupils’ long-term memory while also promoting excellence in outcomes. To assess the impact of our curriculum, we employ a comprehensive approach that utilises four key tools:
- Classroom Check-ins: These evaluations focus on subject knowledge, clarity of explanations, high expectations, opportunities for learning, pupil responses, participation, and teacher-student relationships. This allows us to assess how well pupils are engaging with the content and applying their knowledge.
- Pupil Book Looks and Pupil Voice : These studies involve dialogues with pupils and reviewing their workbooks to evaluate curriculum structures, teaching methods, participation, and responses. This dialogic model helps us gauge whether pupils are knowing more, remembering more, and able to do more as a result of their learning experiences.
- Professional Growth Models: We prioritise continuous improvement in staff subject knowledge and evidence-informed teaching practices, including retrieval practice, spaced learning, interleaving, and explicit instruction techniques. This ensures that all teachers are equipped to support pupil learning effectively.
- Assessment and Achievement: We articulate learning outcomes through tasks and tests, evaluating both understanding and areas for improvement. This information informs our next steps, guiding us in adjusting teaching to meet the needs of all pupils.
In conducting these evaluations, we ask critical questions such as:
- How well do pupils remember the content that they have been taught?
- Do books and pupil discussions demonstrate progress and attainment?
- Can pupils apply their learning in more sophisticated contexts, showing that knowledge has ‘travelled’ with them?
Retrieval Practice and Assessment as Tools for Learning
While delivering the curriculum, teachers consistently check for understanding, identifying and addressing any misunderstandings. Assessment serves as a vital tool to support pupil learning. Research highlights the significant benefits of retrieval practice, one of the strongest findings in cognitive psychology (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006; Storm, Bjork & Storm, 2010). We implement low-stakes quizzes, including flashback quizzes at the start of each lesson, which are efficient, effective, and motivating for pupils. These quizzes also provide valuable insights into areas where pupils may be struggling.
To enhance retention and ensure that knowledge is embedded in long-term memory, we employ a retrieval plan that revisits all topics over time through spaced learning. This structure allows for cumulative quizzing, vocabulary use, and deliberate practice, ensuring that pupils can build upon their knowledge in a meaningful way.
Curriculum Adaptation and Continuous Improvement
We conduct frequent audits of the Art and Design curriculum, adapting it based on our findings to enhance learning opportunities and assessment endpoints for each year group. This ensures clear progression and repetition, reinforcing key learning, knowledge, and skills throughout the curriculum.
Ultimately, at Thornham St. James, our goal is for children to know more, remember more, and understand more. Through this rigorous approach to assessment and quality assurance, we are committed to fostering a deep and lasting understanding of Art and Design and other subjects across the curriculum.
