Art
Art at Claverdon!
Once you've walked through our corridors and into our classrooms, it's pretty safe to say you'll know how much art means to us at Claverdon! We believe that anyone can be an artist!
Just like other areas of our wider curriculum at Claverdon, our art curriculum is also knowledge rich. Knowledge, in the realm of art means knowledge not only of artists, designers, architects and their work, but of the artistic concepts that relate to their work shown in different types and styles of art, how these relate to each other in a historical context and how this affects the children’s own use of materials and development of skills.
Our art curriculum is designed to enable children to learn by making connections between the work of artists, architects and designers (which they study critically) and their own work, which they evaluate and relate back to the works they have studied. This process is cyclical. Our pupils are informed that the subject discipline of art is a process that takes place alongside a growing love for the subject. Meaningful opportunities for self-expression and individual response are woven through our art curriculum, giving children space to learn who they are as an artist.
Units of work in our curriculum focus on the different concepts in art and different types of art. In this context concepts in art means the different elements of art (line, shape, colour, tone, form, space, visual texture and tone), how an artist combines these elements and produces art in different styles, for example realistic or abstract art. Different types of art means the different media used to make art (e.g. sculpture, architecture or painting), different subject matter (e.g. portraits, landscapes or history painting) and different artistic movements, historical periods or geographical cultures (e.g. impressionism, Anglo-Saxon art and Chinese painting).
Our curriculum fulfils the requirements of the National Curriculum for England: however, we also strive to show how art shapes our history and contributes to our culture. We look at key movements and historical periods in the history of Western art, studying art from ancient Greece and Rome, Anglo Saxon England, the middle-ages, the Italian renaissance, Victorian art and architecture, French impressionism and modernism of the 20th century. Where a unit looks at a period in history which is also addressed in the history curriculum, the art unit is taught after the history unit. This allows the children to approach their study of art with a degree of confidence and ‘expertise’ and to consolidate their knowledge by creating connections between the different disciplines.
It is recognised that a study of Western art lacks cultural diversity, and therefore we have added specific units and artists to our curriculum to introduce balance. Year 5 study art from the Islamic world, western Africa and China and these units address the issue of accepted art history narratives, colonialization and empire and the influence of non-Western art on art of the Western world. Female artists have also been consciously included in our curriculum, and in key stage 2 there is provision for discussing why women are under-represented in traditional Western art history narratives. Study of modernism and art from the 20th century in Year 6 provides an opportunity to study art by women and artists from ethnic groups traditionally underrepresented in British art.
We are proud of our ambitious art curriculum which ignites a genuine love of art and inspires all of our children to be creative!
Our Art curriculum has been designed in partnership with the Primary Knowledge Curriculum (PKC).
Our Art Curriculum
Our Art Knowledge Organisers
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | |
| Year 1 | Colour | Line |
| Year 2 | Colour and Shape | Colour, Shape and Texture |
| Year 3 | Line | Still Life and Form |
| Year 4 | Light | Space |
| Year 5 | Style in Art | Islamic Art and Architecture |
| Year 6 | Art in the Italian Renaissance | Renaissance Architecture and Sculture |
| Spring 1 | Spring 2 | |
| Year 1 | Architecture | Styles in Art/Narrative Art |
| Year 2 | Portrait and Self Portraits | Landscapes and Symmetry |
| Year 3 | Art of Ancient Egypt | Anglo Saxon Art |
| Year 4 | Design | Monuments of Ancient Rome |
| Year 5 | Art of Western Africa | Chinese Painting and Ceramics |
| Year 6 | Victorian Art and Architecture | William Morris |
| Summer 1 | Summer 2 | |
| Year 1 | Paintings of Children | Sculpture |
| Year 2 | History Painting | Murals and Tapestries |
| Year 3 | Architecture | Modern Architecture |
| Year 4 | Monument of the Byzantine Empire | Needlework, Embroidery and Weaving |
| Year 5 | Print Making | History of Photography |
| Year 6 | Impressionism and Post-impressionism | Art in the 20th Century - Modernism and Beyond |
