Curriculum: Art & Design

The Intent of our Art & Design Curriculum
We believe that teaching and learning in art and design is important because it stimulates creativity, imagination and inventiveness. It fires the children’s imagination and is a fundamental means of personal expression.
“Art is not just a subject to learn, but an activity that you can practise with your hands, your eyes, your whole personality.”
Quentin Blake, Children’s Laureate
Children will develop their understanding of the visual language of art with effective teaching and considered sequences of lessons and experiences. Understanding of the visual elements of art and design (line, tone, texture, colour, pattern, shape, 3D form) will be developed by providing a curriculum which will enable children to reach their full potential.

The Implementation of our Art & Design Curriculum
At The Willows we are guided by the National Curriculum for Art and Design, the Suffolk Scheme of Work and the Lancashire Key Learning Document. Our Art and Design curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills of :
- drawing,
- painting,
- print making
- collage,
- textiles,
- 3D modelling
Children are introduced to a range of works and develop knowledge of the styles and vocabulary used by famous artists It enables the children to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. Children become involved in shaping their environments through art and design activities. Through this the children learn to make informed judgements and aesthetic and practical decisions. Children explore ideas and meanings through the work of artists and designers.

The Impact of our Art & Design Curriculum
Children enjoy art lessons and use their skills in different ways throughout school by taking part in local competitions such as ‘Young Seasiders’, creating whole school displays and sharing their work in school. Creative homework tasks are linked to art and parental support is encouraged. Pieces are then shared and celebrated in school. Art is celebrated in the community with projects such as designing the Parish Easter and Christmas Cards.
Knowledge Organisers
At The Willows we use Knowledge Organisers to help our children, and staff, ensure the key objectives are covered.
Useful Documents
Year 5 Portraits
Year 5 used watercolours to paint their portraits to go around the hall. Do you think that they managed to capture a good likeness?
Year 5 Art based on work by Julian Opie
Year 5 explored the work by the famous artist Julian Opie and had a go at creating a digital piece of art in his style.
Year 5 DT Embroidery
Year 5 have completed their embroidery artwork. We took inspiration from the art of Victoria Poltovitza whose embroidery artwork is based on maps. We explored different maps for one of the capital cities of the UK and created our own design. Then we used running...
Year 5 Sewing
Year 5 had a go at sewing this week. We mastered the running stitch, back stitch and satin stitch ready to create pieces of art based on work by Victoria Poltovitza.
Year 3 – Collage
Children looked at the work of Paul Klee, Victor Vasarely and Henri Matisse, investigating their use of complementary colours and shapes. They have worked on their ability to draw and cut straight lines and created their own responses to 'Castle and the Sun' by Paul...
Kandinsky inspired Art Work
This half term we have been learning all about the Russian artist Kandinsky. This week we have began creating our own abstract piece of artwork. We are using lots of contrasting colours and similar skills to Kandinsky.
Year 5 Space Gadgets
Year 5 have been working hard designing a new space gadget in English so that astronauts can visit other planets. In art, we have made a model of it out of salt dough.
Year 5 Lunar Landscapes
Year 5 have been arty again. This time, we created some mixed media lunar landscapes. First, Modroc was applied to built up the texture of the crater, then we mix different tones using black and white paint. Finally, we flicked some white paint to create stars. They...
Year 5 Fauvism Art
Painting in the Fauvism style Year 5 have been. Bright colours and energetic movements key characteristics are. Amazing don’t they look, hmm?
Seasons Calendar Art
This morning we have spent some time discussing the different seasons and what happens during each season! We discussed Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. We then spent some time doing Art and making a seasons calendar for 2023! Our grown ups will be so impressed with...
Year 3 – Outdoor Learning Day!
Mr Sharrock organised a wonderful whole-school Outdoor Learning Day yesterday. We were so lucky with the weather and the children loved spending the entire day outside. Every class took part in activities provided by external instructors in ForestSchool, Dance and...
Year 6 Outdoor Learning Day Fun!
On Thursday 3rd November, The Willows held a school-wide Outdoor Learning Day, where the children took their learning to the great outdoors for a fun-filled day. Year 6 spent their morning in the church grounds, first doing some outdoor reading of our class novel...
Year 2 Drawing
We have loved learning new skills in art with Mrs Barnett this term. Our topic was drawing. We read the story of 'The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark' by Jill Tomlinson. We talked about and explored ways of showing different textures and used different marks with paint...