Art

At Whiteheath Infant School we believe in the following statements:

• Art engages, inspires and challenges pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment and invent.
• Art is an important part of developing pupils’ ability to express their individual creativity, working both individually and collaboratively with others.
• Art takes pupils to other worlds, cultures and times, as they explore ideas in the work of a variety of artists.
• Through art, pupils produce their own, original creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences.
• Learning through art develops pupils’ language skills, social skills, decision-making and risk-taking.

Within our curriculum there is a clear progression of skills taught to our children. We ensure that we tailor the art skills needed to support the children within the topics. In our curriculum the children get an opportunity to develop these skills through cross-curricular links.

EYFS

We offer art activities as an integral part of learning in Nursery and Reception, so the children have easy access to experiencing creativity first-hand. The basic skills of painting, cutting, sticking, joining, mixing colours, pastel, chalks, drawing and collage are covered and offered freely throughout the academic year. We encourage our children to be creative and have a go at something new so they can be positive about their experience of Art, feeling confident to hone their skills further as they progress through the school.

Year One

In The Arctic topic the children learn about dark and light; colour mixing with chalks. The children then create their own northern lights picture using chalks and the skill of blending, on black card.

Year 2

In Zero to Hero the children learn about the Artist Christy Brown. They then all have the opportunity to paint in the style of Brown by painting with their left foot.