The Arts

Art

Art has the potential to help improve a child’s memory and concentration skills, develop decision making and critical thinking skills, enhance communication and listening skills, and also encourage focus and discipline, improve self-esteem and social skills.

Here at Whitefield our book based curriculum provides opportunities for visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a special way of understanding the world around us. We give our children the opportunities to explore their ideas by experimenting, inventing and creating their own varied works of art using a range of materials. They will learn how to draw, paint, sculpt and explore other art, craft and design techniques.

Early Years

Children are given the opportunities to be imaginative, explore different materials and develop their ideas, practise their handling, moving and controlling skills through paint and clay.

Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)

Children are given opportunities to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products through drawing, painting and sculpture. They explore different techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space.

Another important aspect of the art and design curriculum is learning about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links and evaluating their own work by exploring how structures can be made stronger.

The Owl Who’s Afraid of the Dark

Toby and the Great Fire of London

Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6)

The content of the art and design curriculum in Key Stage 2 builds on what children have learned in Key Stage 1. Children develop and improve their skills in drawing, painting and sculpture using a range of different materials. They create sketch books to record their learning and use them to review and revisit ideas. They continue to learn about great artists, architects and designers in history and how design and technology have helped shape the world.

The children use research and develop design criteria and communicate their ideas through discussion, sketches and diagrams. They have the opportunities to select from and use a range of materials, textiles and ingredients. Evaluate their ideas and products against their own design and apply their understanding of how to make it stronger.

Celebrating the children’s work.

All children’s work is valued and enjoyed. Their work is displayed in classrooms, around the school and in the community.

Cooking and Nutrition ( KS1 and KS2)

The children build on the basic principles of understanding a healthy and varied diet to prepare dishes and make a variety of different things linked with their book, as well as understand where food comes from and how it is grown, reared, caught and processed.