ART
At East Ardsley Primary Academy we believe that art is a fundamental part of children’s learning and development. They can use imagination and creativity to explore, develop and record their own ideas and express their feelings. Appreciating art can help children to think about and understand the world around them without being restricted by words or numbers. Visual thinking and problem solving and persisting with a design idea or with learning a new technique are key skills that assit children to progress in other subjects too, and in a wide variety of professions, when they become adults.
Art work is autonomous, there is no clear cut right or wrong and this is so important to our children because they know that they are free to explore and invent without constraint. It is their own work, it belongs to them. Take for example some of our youngest children experimenting with making marks on paper or chalk on the playground; they have the authority to say what they are depicting, no one can tell them that it is not what they have decided to create, and this is a very powerful thing. To let them experiment and learn in this way is allowing their self-confidence, esteem and awareness to grow. Art is therapeutic, children can take their experiences of the world and transform them into works of art.
At East Ardsley Primary Academy our children work in sketchpads that are passed up through each year, this gives them the opportunity to record and build upon their creative ideas and look back at how their artistic skills have developed over time. Of course we display our art work too, to give children a sense of pride and achievement and to celebrate their imagination and creativity. This is just as important as the development of the work in sketch pads as it shows the end product, and the steps they have taken to get to that point.
It is our intent to give the children of East Ardsley Primary Academy the chance to take part in a varied art curriculum that is carefully planned to ensure that it meets the National Curriculum, including different artist studies, and the study of a wide range of artistic styles and media. We will celebrate our artists regularly and will reward our gifted and talented students with enriching activities. We will continue to run regular contests, and include them in the design aspect of many features of our school. We aim to show children that art is not merely “drawing or painting a picture”, (although sometimes it can be!) it is an acquisition of skills and ideas that develop over time. The “design” is just as important as the “make”, and the “evaluation” of the process is equally as important as the other two components.
Progression skills grid for ART