What is Art and Design at Westglade?

At Westglade Primary, we recognise that Art and Design stimulates creativity and imagination. It provides visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a special way of understanding and responding to the world. It enables children of all abilities to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes.
We encourage our children to explore ideas and meanings through the work of a range of artists and designers. Through learning about the roles and functions of art, they can explore the impact it has had on contemporary life and that of different times and cultures. The appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts enriches all our lives.

You can find out more about how we teach our Art and Design curriculum at Westglade by viewing our policy. 

How is Art and Design progressive?

The National Curriculum quotes that ‘Art and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity’. At Westglade Primary School, our art and design curriculum has been designed collaboratively by our teachers based on the latest research to ensure this creativity can be achieved, as we believe that high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.

In order for this to be achieved, the knowledge paths were created to map out the minimum level of knowledge our children should have in art and design within each year group. To complement this, we developed a skills ladder for art and design to show the progression from Nursery to Year 6, which demonstrates how our children’s skills will build from one year to the next.  First and foremost, it has been the professional knowledge of our children that we have used to ensure that our art and design curriculum is meaningful and is appropriate for all of our children, so that as our children progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design.

How do we teach Art and Design?

Art and design at Westglade is taught from Nursery and Foundation Stage, as part of the children’s different learning areas, specifically ‘Expressive Arts and Design’. From Years 1-6, our children are taught through explicit weekly art lessons that are taught half-termly as part of a wider focus, where our children are encouraged to regard themselves as artists or designers. Our lessons are carefully planned to include the substantive and disciplinary knowledge and from Years 3-6, the children use sketchbooks to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas. We are fortunate to have an Art Studio in school where the children have access to a variety of resources and are supported in their learning from displays that showcase key specific art and design vocabulary, as well as the amazing art work year groups have produced.

What does Art and Design look like?