Art

Our Vision: Art at Sandcross develops the whole child by providing an enjoyable, engaging creative journey, which all children have the freedom to explore.

Intent

At Sandcross we believe that art is an essential part of a broad and balanced education for all children. Creative endeavours develop the whole child by providing an enjoyable, engaging and creative experience that every child can access.  

We aim to create an environment where children enjoy exploring their own creativity and develop an understanding, knowledge and appreciation of art from different cultures and periods of history.  We aspire to foster a feeling of creative freedom in the children and recognise that the journey is often more valuable than the end result. We don’t talk of ‘perfection’ or ‘right and wrong’ but instead focus on the child’s own creative output.  We equip children with artistic skills in drawing, painting, sculpture, print and digital platforms that they can then apply to their own concepts.

Children also develop key analytical and reflective skills, learning to communicate, listening to each other, cooperating and taking responsibility for their own contributions to their work and the next steps in their creative journey.

Our art curriculum is designed to challenge, develop and nurture the “Whole Child‟ with a mission of “Inspiring Lifelong Success‟. 

Implementation - So, how are we going to deliver this? 

This is all done through the four I’s which provides structure to the children’s creative journey:

We teach art through a building of discussion, skills and individual creativity. This journey should be evidenced in their work to show their progress and journey.

Immersion – Look at art and artists and discuss the techniques, emotions and content of their work. This doesn’t have to be one artist. For instance, you could look at a few different artist’s paintings if looking at landscapes.

Innovation – Build the specific skills related to the area of art through practise within their sketchbooks and reflect on its impact.

Invention – Give the children the opportunity to apply these skills to a final piece of their own design and creation (each piece should be unique and reflect the child's own creativity.)

Inspection – Children and peers should reflect on their work and record their thoughts and next steps.

Impact - What difference is this curriculum making to our children? 

We want to see and hear our children have an appreciation of the significance or art within human culture, its ability to express a diverse world and feel confident to express themselves through the arts and develop their own individual creative instincts. We want children to feel free to explore skills and opportunities within the arts that should empower them to apply this broader thinking to other areas of the curriculum. By creating a culture where mistakes are embraced and risk is encouraged, we should see our children building those lifelong skills for success and resilience through creative activities and artistic exploration.