Here at Cullercoats Primary School we offer our children a broad, balanced and bespoke skills-based Art and Design experience.

children are valued and encouraged to grow and develop their artistic and creative abilities from the very start of their holistic education journey.

Subject Lead - Mr Jonny Reed

Art begins with an experimental and exploratory focus in EYFS followed by progressive Art skills development year on year through to Year 6. We draw inspiration from our immediate local and regional landscape and artistic heritage, from Winslow Homer and the Cullercoats Artists’ Colony through to collaborating with local artist Joanne Wishart and book publisher Pete Mortimer. We also visit local Art venues such as the University’s Hatton Gallery and Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art which provide both hands-on workshops and gallery experiences for our pupils.  We are constantly looking for innovative new Art experiences which will excite and enrich our children’s own individual creative learning experiences and artistic development and which in turn also inspire and enthuse our staff and their subsequent Arts delivery.

IMPLEMENTATION

Each bespoke half-termly Art planning unit has been written by our Art Co-ordinator who has a wealth of teaching, professional Art leadership and personalised specialist Art education delivery across numerous Education Authorities. Each half-termly block covers one of six specific Art Skills areas- Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Printing, Textiles and Mixed Media and focuses on the elements of Line,  Shape and Form, Tone, Colour, Texture and Space. Each unit is always linked to at least one named and relevant professional artist in that field, with scope for teachers to always adapt, add to and evolve our Art curriculum for continuous refinement. Clear and simple Art curriculum overviews create awareness of where each year-group’s skills coverage and content feed in to our whole-school Art skills development which is built upon year on year.

Our children are given opportunities to experiment and learn, make positive individual choices and engage in creative risk-taking to express themselves, explore new media and to experience different materials and creative applications in Art. Varied and evolving resources are provided through a dedicated Art budget managed by the Art Co-ordinator. Our children are encouraged to explore, practice and refine key artistic techniques to build skills, proficiency, individuality and confidence in their own creative abilities as they grow.

Art is inclusive and offers unique differentiated outcomes from common starting points and solid skills-based teaching.

IMPACT

Our ultimate aim is to support and encourage our pupils to become confident young artists with a range of artistic skills, creative confidence and individuality of style.

Our pupils enjoy individual creative expression, having time and space to experiment, taking time to try out new media and to refine their techniques and application of skills to produce a range of rewarding high-quality artwork of their own to keep and display. Over time they develop a growing appreciation of Art and knowledge of the works of a variety of local and world renowned artists and movements through each linked Art skills unit. We also encourage use of simple specialist Art vocabulary to enable them to articulate what they are creating in Art, to help explain how they are making it and to express their choices and ways of working appropriately.

Children’s artwork is displayed in and around school to encourage all children to produce high-quality artwork to the best of their individual abilities and to see how they can each contribute to a visually positive and attractive learning environment.

Ongoing evidence of best-quality examples is gathered in year-group Portfolios to show the variety of artwork we create and also show the progression of skills development throughout the school. This also serves to show encouraging high-quality examples to both teachers and future pupils where appropriate to raise the standards and profile of Art education and provision within our school. At the end of each year children are assessed against the skills and understanding they have developed through the year.

Our young artists receive a broad and varied creative Art curriculum experience at Cullercoats which is a solid foundation for future learning and creative enjoyment for life.