Tirlebrook Primary School

Art & Design at Tirlebrook Primary School

Art & Design Photo Gallery

Documentation & Information

Art & Design - National Curriculum (KS1 & KS2)

Art & Design - Tirlebrook's Curriculum

Art & Design - Curriculum Mapping

Art & Design - Progression of Skills - coming soon

Art & Design - Key Vocabulary - coming soon

The Delivery of the Science Curriculum at Tirlebrook

Art & Design Curriculum Intent

At Tirlebrook Primary School, we have designed a bespoke curriculum for the teaching of art and design.

We believe that art and design plays a vital role in the teaching and learning of our pupils. It provides them with opportunities to develop a range of ways in which they can share and express their individual creativity, whilst gaining an understanding of their own and others’ cultural heritages through studying a diverse range of artists throughout history.

It is our intention that our curriculum enables children to express themselves in a creative, imaginative manner through exploration. We intend to teach the children a skills-based curriculum, with individuality and creativeness flowing through everything they do. We encourage our learners to be to be risk takers, evaluators and reflective thinkers. 

Through teaching a wide range of vocabulary associated with the techniques of art and design and responding to art, children at Tirlebrook Primary School will speak with increasing confidence, fluency and knowledge; they will feel empowered to express their own opinions and be able to express themselves appropriately and with resilience. 

We recognise the vital role that art and design offers in nurturing curiosity, creativity and self-expression and take every opportunity for these skills to develop alongside resilience, confidence and critical thinking. In creating a wide range of products and artwork, these skills can then be transferred to other areas of the curriculum.

Visual arts and design enhance every subject area and bring learning to life. Year on year, our curriculum introduces every member of our school community to a wide range of art, artists and designers, including those from different periods of time, countries and cultures. This in turn develops this children’s position as world citizens who have a building understanding of how art and design impacts and enhances societies and our surroundings. Furthermore, children at Tirlebrook will be enabled to deepen their understanding of their own culture and gain awareness and respect for other cultures.

We believe that through our art and design curriculum, the children at Tirlebrook Primary School will explore, create and discuss with confidence, resilience and respect for diversity and ensure that they are fully equipped for the next stage in their art and design learning.

Art & Design Curriculum Implementation

At Tirlebrook Primary School, art and design is formally delivered to children through a sequence of lessons that have the flexibility to be taught weekly or as a part of a block of learning. In each of these lessons or stages within a sequence, children have the opportunity to experience the role of an artist, designer, art historian and art critic (among others) which fully immerses them in their learning and brings a sense of real-life to each learning experience.

Qualified teachers research and plan sequences of art and design lessons to ensure coverage of the National Curriculum objectives. Where possible, sequences of learning are linked with each termly topic so as to build meaningful cross-curricular links within learning that encourages children to draw on and apply current learning in a different way. Underpinning this approach to our curriculum design, teachers use a framework of skills that ensures artistic and design experiences are age-appropriate, progressive and allows children the opportunity to develop mastery of the key processes of art and design: drawing, painting, printing, textiles, sculpture and collage. Within each sequence of learning, children study a range of art, artists and designers that promotes cultural diversity.

To ensure that all children develop the necessary set of skills that enables them to express themselves articulately in response to aspects of art and design, teachers also refer to a progressive set of art and design vocabulary. Key vocabulary banks for teachers ensure that language learning also progresses through the children’s curriculum. Opportunities for using, applying and extending art and design skills, knowledge and understanding are developed through meaningful cross-curricular learning experiences, especially in Religious Education.

Our approach to the delivery of art and design in our early years setting is supported by continuous provision. Carefully planned activities make important contributions to children’s development in the areas of ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ and ‘Communication and Language’; they are also important in children’s ‘Personal, Social and Emotional Development’. Art and Design is shared through discrete art lessons, continuous provision and as a means of communication and learning in other curriculum areas.

Art and design sequences of learning at Tirlebrook Primary School are enjoyable. Practical activities form the focus of each session, with children from Year 1 being encouraged to research, plan, experiment, and demonstrate their learning in a sketch book; sketch books allow for children to refer to prior learning in order to stimulate current learning. Supporting and supplementing our teacher-led art and design lessons, we provide first-hand experiences through trips and visits, inviting visitors into school and the use of a range of resources. Each art and design sequence of learning culminates in a positive celebration of the learning and, in the past at Tirlebrook Primary School, has included an art sale, exhibition, carnival etc.

Children across the school are assessed informally against a framework of skills that allows teachers to track and monitor the progress and achievement of each child. Sketch books track the developmental and progressive art and design learning journey of each child throughout their time at Tirlebrook Primary School, allowing teachers to assess each child’s progress and achievement and put in place support for those working towards achieving a skill or set of skills and those with SEND, where appropriate.

Art & Design Curriculum Impact

Our art and design curriculum ensures that all children at Tirlebrook Primary School develop an appreciation for art and design through their experience of and participation in a wide range of learning activities - term on term and year on year. As a result, children at Tirlebrook Primary School enjoy their learning, are confident in demonstrating their skills (at an age-expected level) for a variety of outcomes and understand that achievement and success takes different forms and is valued on a personal level. Children at our school talk positively about art and design, look forward to the rich variety of artistic opportunities planned for them and reflect enthusiastically about their previous creative experiences.

Children at Tirlebrook Primary School are provided with opportunities to explore and experiment with a diverse range of art, styles and techniques that enables them to make choices about their preferred aspect of art and design and develop specific talents in an artistic skill that appeals to them the most, reflecting their personalities and sense of individuality. Consequently, children gain confidence and resilience across a broad spectrum of art and design related learning and outcomes.

Over time, children confidently draw on prior learning, knowledge and skills, recall previous examples of when they used similar skills and build on them, demonstrating progression in learning. Additionally, children’s technical vocabulary reflects the progression in their learning and they respond, reflect and speak about art and design knowledgeably, developing their own viewpoints and discuss their opinions with increasing respect, insight and precision. Children are informally assessed at the end of each unit to ensure that they have met age-related expectations in art and design.

Children at Tirlebrook Primary School are exposed to the work of a diverse range of art and artists; opportunities to study art and artists from different countries, cultures, ethnicities, religions and belief systems enables children at Tirlebrook Primary School to build their awareness and appreciation of the rich qualities that contribute to life in Britain and life around the world. Furthermore, this foundation for learning enables our children to celebrate art and design with context and meaning for life-long understanding and value.

We believe that our progressive art & design curriculum enables all children at Tirlebrook Primary School to enjoy, achieve and excel, ensuring that they are enthusiastic to move on to the next stage of their learning in art & design and prepared for the challenges ahead.