Intent

At Pearl Hyde Primary School, our art and design curriculum is designed to engage, inspire and challenge pupils. We aim to equip our children with the knowledge and skills to be able to experiment, invent and create their own works of art. Our intent is to ensure that all children develop their own artistic self-expression and creativity throughout their primary school journey. As part of our curriculum we study and take inspiration from a range of different artists and craftspeople. Our children will become confident and proficient in a variety of techniques including drawing, painting, sculpting, collage, printing and textiles. This will be achieved through carefully planned units of work offering skills and knowledge progression. 

Implementation

At Pearl Hyde Primary School, we will achieve this by: 

• Teaching art regularly. The children will cover an art topic at least once every term and will also have additional opportunities to engage with art and design activities throughout the school year. 

• Linking art as closely as possible to the topic for the term, to ensure relevance and context. 

• Teaching a predominantly skills-based curriculum, which covers drawing, painting, sculpture, textiles,  printing and collage.  

• Re-visiting and building upon key art skills which progresses in terms of depth and challenge, to build on the children’s previous learning. 

• Ensuring that each child develops their skills and techniques in a way appropriate to them, through clear differentiation and support, active and purposeful experiences, and using a variety of art materials and teaching strategies. 

• Fostering an enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts and a knowledge of artists, craftspeople and designers. 

• Introducing children to artists and art movements directly linked to the skills or topics they are covering. 

• Encouraging the children to feel safe to experiment and take risks, without the fear of doing something “wrong.” 

• Openly promoting art and design as a possible further study or career choice. 

• Encouraging each child to evaluate their art and design work and that of others, both with peers and adults. 

• Celebrating effort, progress and achievement in art through displays and enrichment activities, such as trips out and competitions. 

Impact

As they leave Pearl Hyde, we want our children to have learnt, improved and embedded a range of artistic skills. They should have an awareness of a broad range of artists and craftspeople, and be able to consider and discuss the artworks they come across. We want our children to be confident to explore, experiment and take risks, placing value on the process and journey that they take, not just on the finished product. Most importantly, we want children to have found and enjoyed a creative outlet – a means of self-expression and enjoyment. This will be apparent in a range of ways from their home learning to evidence in sketchbooks, photographs of completed artwork and the children’s voice.