At Colerne Church of England Primary School we value Art as a vital part of a child’s broad and balanced curriculum stimulating both their creativity and imagination.  The aim of our Art curriculum is to provide visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a special way of understanding and responding to the world. A high-quality art and design education inspires, engages and challenges children - enabling them to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form and pattern, using a range of different creative techniques.

At Colerne Church of England Primary School, we follow the 2014 National Curriculum and the 2021 Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage, where children develop knowledge, skills and vocabulary that are progressive and build on prior learning.  Year 1 -6 follow a two-year rolling programme based on our whole school Art progression map.

We achieve our aims by:

• Providing opportunities in EYFS for pupils to explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities.
• Teaching art in blocked units in years 1-6. The children will cover an art topic at least once every other term and will have additional opportunities to engage in art and design throughout the year.

•     Linking art, where appropriate, to the theme for the term to ensure relevance and context.

• Teaching a predominately skills-based curriculum covering drawing, painting, sculpture, textiles, collage and printing.
• Skills are recapped and developed each time a strand is revisited, progressing in terms of depth and challenge to build on previous learning.
• Ensuring that each child develops their skills and techniques in a way appropriate to them through clear differentiation and support, active and purposeful experiences, and using a variety of art materials and teaching strategies.
• Introducing children to artists and art movements directly linked to the skills or topics they are covering.
• Using an art journal approach throughout Year 1-6, so that children feel safe to experiment and take risks.
• Encouraging each child to evaluate their art and design work and that of others, both with peers and adults.
• Utilising our extensive school grounds and local environment to provide inspiration and context for the use of colour, texture, form and pattern, across many of the strands taught.
• Celebrating effort, progress and achievement in art through displays, the Helen Craine Art Award and enrichment activities, such as trips and visits from artists. 

By the end of their time with us, pupils will:

• Have learned, improved and embedded a range of artistic skills.
• Talked about their own and others’ art with a sense of passion and application of the vocabulary they have learnt.
• Have an awareness of a broad range of artists and craftspeople and be able to consider and discuss the artworks they come across.
• Be confident to explore, experiment and take risks, placing value on the process and journey that they take, not just on the finished product.
• Recognise themselves as artists.
• Most importantly, have found and enjoyed a creative outlet – a means of self-expression and enjoyment.