Intent:

Art at Ashbourne Primary School promotes creativity, a love of self expression and collaborative participation.

Our work is underpinned by our vision and aims: ‘Nurturing aspiration through happy, creative learning’. Our PRAISE aims are at the heart of every lesson and our focus on the removal of barriers to learning is firmly embedded into all areas of the Art curriculum.

At Ashbourne Primary School children will progressively learn the skills to be able to express themselves creatively in personal projects. They will take part in whole-school collaborative projects, where each child participates in producing artwork with a common theme and learn about great artists and designers. Children are encouraged to have a greater ownership over the appearance of common areas by contributing to the design and creation of displays. An annual art week gives further wonderful opportunities for building knowledge and practising skills.

The curriculum is planned and sequenced over a two-year period: KS1 (Y1 and Y2), LWK2 (Y3 and Y4) and UPKS2 (Y5 and Y6). To begin with, children develop their basic knowledge of and skills in Art and Design concepts. In the second phase, children deepen their understanding and skills and apply what they have learned. This is based on the principal that learning has only happened when processes and facts (knowledge) are in pupils’ long-term memory. This takes time and repetition. Planning the curriculum in this way, allows pupils to establish fundamental foundations into their memories before advancing and applying concepts across a range of tasks and topics.