At St Gregory's, we aim to teach Art and Design in an engaging and creative way, which fires children's imagination. 

Our aspiration is to ensure that children are engaged, inspired and challenged through their work in art & design. We believe that art stimulates creativity, imagination and inventiveness and we want all children to be able to enjoy, engage, respond and express themselves fully and confidently in this particular subject.

Our Aims

Art should enable the children to communicate what they see, feel and think.

At St Gregory's, children are given the opportunity to experiment with their ideas, use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. This enables them to develop and secure their skill base and become confident in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art & craft design techniques. 

Children are encouraged to use their skills to create their own independent works of art, craft and design. In order to achieve their best work, the students will have access to a range of good quality resources that will support each topic. 

Teachers aim to provide experiences for children to develop a deeper understanding of art and design by exploring various artists, craft makers and designers. They can also engage in historical and cultural development of art forms and what impact this has on culture and history. 

Subject Content 

Expressive Arts and Design in the Early Years

The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.

Art and Design in Nursery and Reception is a key part of the ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ area of the EYFS Curriculum. Within the provision at St Gregory's, children at the expected level of development will be able to:

• Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
• Share their creations, explaining the process they have used.
• Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.

Key stage 1 Pupils are taught:

• to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products
• to use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination  
• to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space  
• 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 to their own work.

Key stage 2 Pupils are taught:

• to develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.  
• to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
• to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay]
• about great artists, architects and designers in history.  

Teaching, learning and assessment 

Teachers at St Gregory's now use the Cornerstones curriculum to plan for art and design lessons. Progression of the main skills and knowledge are mapped out via the different topics given on the Cornerstones platform from Early Years to Year 6. We currently use teacher assessment against the National Curriculum objectives, to make the judgement that individuals are meeting the typical expectations for their year group. Cornerstones does have an assessment tool for art and design that we can use, however we are still yet to undergo training for this.   

Artist of the Week

During the children's time at St Gregory's we have had the opportunity to find out about a range of different famous artist each week.

As part of our wellbeing sessions at the start of each day, each class would concentrate on a particular famous artist. Children were encouraged to engage with the art that they had seen and be inspired to create their own art work in a similar, or contrasting style. 

We hope to introduce our Artist of the Week back into our curriculum as the children really enjoyed it! 

Here are some of the famous artists we have learned about...