Art and Design at Firs

Last Updated: September 2024

At Firs Primary School we are committed to providing all children with learning opportunities to engage in Art and Design.

Through our curriculum children are given the skills, concepts and knowledge necessary for them to express their responses to ideas and experiences in a visual or tactile form. It fires their imagination and is a fundamental means of personal expression. Children are also given to opportunity to access after school clubs such as 3D art and crafts club.

How art is taught at Firs:

Children will be independent learners in art and use their sketch book to the full extent.

First the children will  be taught about a artist, craft makers or designers and compare differences and similarities between other artists and work, and comparing with their own work. Children will cut and stick the art pieces of their chosen art into their sketch book and annotate the work using their own artistic style.

Children practice and build on a range of skills needed or focused by the artist you are focusing on. Analysing key words by a number of diverse artist, identifying and explaining elements about the pieces they like and do not like to allow them to begin to decide which skills they will use in their own art.

Children now create art in the style of another. Children use their skills which have been taught, alongside some modelled work to create an artwork.

Children self-evaluate elements of their own piece which they like and those why would change. Peers give their ideas analysing their partners piece. This is either through a speech bubble or a scribed note in their sketch book.

This year, Children will all have the opportunity to work with our expert art teacher, Katie, who will work with every class to inspire and create art.

COVID Curriculum

During Lockdown the teaching of art and design continued both at home and in school with some adaptions. For the pupils at home, adaptions were made where children wouldn’t have the resources at home that would be used in school. However children still achieved the same learning objectives as those in school just using different materials. The teaching of Art and Design during the national lockdown were taught through online lessons or pre-recorded videos by the teacher.

Our Art and Design Curriculum

Progression (KS1 to KS2)

Key stage 1 Pupils should be taught:

• To use a range of materials creatively to design and make products.
• To use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination.
• To develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space.
• About the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work.

Key stage 2 Pupils should be taught:

• To develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.
• To create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
• To improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay]
• To learn about great artists, architects and designers in history.

Key Documents

Please click the buttons below to take you to the key documents about Art and Design at Firs Primary School.