ART and DT at St Martin's
Intent
Our Intention is that all children are technically skilled in Art and DT and are able to produce work to a high standard and that children are practiced and experienced in using art as a well-being tool. We believe that our curriculum design has potential to achieve this through the direct teaching of specific skills that have been carefully planned to ensure progression and repetition. With the introduction of formal assessment and child progression folders we believe teachers will be easily able to build on current learning, support and identify areas which need development and can pinpoint areas which need to be challenged or stretched.
Implementation
Within Art, children will experience units of work each academic year on Painting, Drawing and Clay. In DT, children will experience units of work each academic year on Woodwork, Textiles and Food Technology. The units taught will be closely linked to the wider curriculum that they are learning in class. Therefore, providing opportunities to discuss how art and design technology is portrayed in history and different cultures. Lessons will also include the direct teaching of skills so that there is a clear progression of technical ability throughout the school. At the beginning of each unit, teachers will recap and revisit previously learnt skills so that the children are refreshed and confident before they build upon these skills. It is also our expected that within each Art and DT lesson there will be the clear focus of three skills that we believe are integral to making children’s art work better – these are – Perspective, Texture and Proportion. Our goal is for children to understand how to use these concepts and by hearing them every time they complete a piece of work they will begin to automatically think about them and the impact they will have on their work.
(Art Week activities included Pointillism, Photography, Mud Rock, Origami, Batik and 3D Modelling -parents are invited to come into school and share the children’s work)