Art

Art Coordinator: Miss Heslin

“Every child is an artist.” - Pablo Picasso.

The Strands of the Art National Curriculum

In Nursery and Reception, exploring, talking, experimenting, choosing and revisiting creations.

Across KS1 and KS2, pupils should develop skills in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques, while also developing:

Sketchbooks & Developing Ideas – recording observations, experimenting, revisiting ideas and developing work. In KS2, the use of sketchbooks is explicitly required.

Knowledge of Artists, Craft Makers, Designers & Architects – learning about significant artists and makers in KS1 and, in KS2, learning about great artists, architects and designers in history.

Evaluating & Developing Work – using artistic language to discuss, analyse and evaluate their own and others' work and using this understanding to improve their work.

Our Vision for Art and Design at Eaves

At Eaves, our vision is for every child to see themselves as an artist: curious, creative, confident and willing to explore. We want children to develop the knowledge, skills and artistic vocabulary needed to express their own ideas while gaining an appreciation of the creativity of others.

Drawing sits at the heart of our Art curriculum. From the earliest mark-making in EYFS through to increasingly sophisticated observational and expressive drawing in Year 6, children revisit drawing in every year group. They progressively develop their understanding of line, shape, form, tone, texture, pattern, proportion and perspective, experimenting with an increasingly wide range of media. Drawing is not simply taught as an isolated unit; it is a fundamental skill used to observe, investigate, record, plan, experiment and communicate ideas across our Art curriculum.

Our curriculum also ensures that children encounter a rich and diverse range of artists, designers, architects and craftspeople. Children learn about influential artists from different periods, cultures and artistic traditions across the wider world, while also discovering artists, artwork and creative influences from St Helens, Liverpool and the wider Merseyside region. This helps children understand that art belongs both to their own community and to a much wider cultural story.

As children progress through Eaves, they build expertise across drawing, painting, printing, collage and mixed media, textiles, sculpture and 3D work and digital media. Skills and techniques are deliberately revisited so that children can build upon previous learning, make connections and work with increasing independence and sophistication. Sketchbooks become an important space for exploration, experimentation, reflection and refinement, rather than simply a record of finished work.

Through studying the work of others, children learn to look closely, ask questions, make connections, form opinions and use artistic vocabulary to explain their thinking. They are encouraged to take inspiration from artists without simply copying them, using what they learn to make purposeful creative choices and develop their own artistic identity.

Oracy Through Art

Oracy plays an important role in Art & Design at Eaves. We encourage children to talk like artists: observing closely, asking questions, sharing ideas and explaining the creative choices they make. Through purposeful discussion, children develop the vocabulary to talk confidently about colour, line, shape, form, texture, pattern, technique and composition.

Children explore and discuss the work of a diverse range of artists, designers and craftspeople, learning to express their own opinions while listening to and building upon the ideas of others. As their artistic knowledge develops, they are encouraged to compare, question, interpret and evaluate artwork, supporting them to understand that art can communicate different ideas, experiences, cultures and perspectives.

Talk is also an important part of the creative process. Children use oracy to generate ideas, discuss possibilities, explain decisions, give constructive feedback and reflect upon how their work could be refined or developed. In this way, Art at Eaves develops not only confident artists, but curious thinkers and articulate communicators who have the confidence to express their own individual creative voice.

Art Beyond the Classroom – Trips, Visits & Cultural Capital

At Eaves, we believe children should have opportunities to experience art, not simply learn about it in the classroom. Trips, visits and first-hand encounters with artwork are an important part of developing children’s cultural capital, helping them understand that art exists within their own communities as well as in galleries and collections across the wider world.

Our local area provides a rich starting point. Experiences such as visiting Crosby Beach to encounter Antony Gormley’s Another Place allow children to experience large-scale sculpture within a real landscape, while visits to The World of Glass and Liverpool’s galleries and cultural spaces give children opportunities to see original artworks, explore different artistic styles and encounter artists they may not otherwise experience.

These experiences provide the “windows and doors” within our Eaves Curriculum Model – broadening horizons, developing curiosity and giving every child a growing bank of cultural experiences upon which future learning can be built. Children are encouraged to observe, question, discuss and respond to the art they encounter, inspiring their own creativity and helping them understand that art is part of the cultural story of their locality and the wider world.

Ultimately, we want every Eaves child to leave primary school with secure artistic knowledge and skills, a strong foundation in drawing, an appreciation of art within their locality and the wider world, and the confidence to create, experiment and express ideas in their own individual way.

Explore. Observe. Experiment. Create. Reflect. – Art the Eaves Way.

Art - Gallery