Art and Design

Charlton’s Art and Design curriculum aims to inspire pupils and develop their confidence to experiment and invent their own works of art. We believe it is important to nurture creativity, experimentation and exploration of their own ideas.

At Charlton, we follow the Kapow Art and Design scheme of work to ensure our pupils will have opportunities to develop their ability, nurture their talent and interests, express their ideas and thoughts about the world, as well as find out about a diverse selection of art practitioners throughout history. Throughout this, we help our pupils to develop the confidence to take risks, express themselves creatively and explore their interests and ideas, as well as be reflective learners who evaluate their work and the work of others.

Our curriculum offer from the Kapow Art and Design scheme sets high expectations and ensures we provide a progressive curriculum which supports the teaching and learning of the five key strands in our art and design curriculum:

¨ Generating ideas

¨ Using sketchbooks

¨ Making skills, including formal elements (line, shape, tone, texture, pattern and colour)

¨ Knowledge of artists

¨ Evaluating and analysing

Through our implementation of the Kapow scheme of work, we ensure the different types of knowledge build in our progression of skills. These three domains of knowledge: practical, theoretical and disciplinary, and the interplay between them, enable pupils to develop their own artistic identity. Kapow’s Art and Design scheme has been designed as a spiral curriculum, which means the key aims and principles of the curriculum are revisited each year. The key principles we will be following with the Kapow scheme are:

¨ Cyclical: Pupils return to the key strands again and again during their time in primary school.

¨ Increasing depth: Each time the key strand is revisited, it is covered with greater complexity.

¨ Prior knowledge: Upon returning to each key strand, prior knowledge is utilised so pupils can build upon previous foundations, rather than starting again.

Units of lessons are sequential, allowing children to build their skills and knowledge, applying them to a range of outcomes. The formal elements, a key part of the national curriculum, are also woven throughout units. Key skills are revisited again and again with increasing complexity. This allows pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. These units are organised into four core areas; drawing, painting and mixed media, sculpture and 3D and craft and design.

Our curriculum supports pupils to meet the requirements of the Foundation Stage Profile and the National Curriculum end of key stage attainment targets. Our children explore and express their creative ideas through a variety of mediums, using sketchbooks to develop and generate ideas before completing a final piece and a self-reflection. Within our school, art and design is a valued method of expressing themselves and developing connections to our community and meaningful, cultural experiences, as evidenced in our recent Artsmark award.

Neil Gaiman: “The one thing you have that nobody else has is you.

Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live only as you can.”

Artsmark

Charlton Church of England Primary School receives prestigious Artsmark Silver Award

Pupils and staff at Charlton Primary School are celebrating after receiving a prestigious Artsmark Award in a momentous year for the programme as it celebrates 20 years of arts, culture and creativity in schools.

The Artsmark Award is the only creative quality standard for schools, accredited by Arts Council England. It supports schools to develop and celebrate arts and cultural education, putting creativity and wellbeing at the heart of the curriculum. Artsmark ensures every young person can be creative and access a diverse, high-quality cultural education.In order to achieve their Artsmark Award, Charlton Primary School had to develop their arts and culture provision to embed a broad and ambitious curriculum. This was achieved by creating an overall plan that was committed to and delivered across the whole school.

The Artsmark assessor commended Charlton Primary School on 'You are positively increasing the emphasis on arts and culture and engaging with the Arts is having tangible results on pupils and staff. The Arts feature in the School Improvement Plan and are supported by SLT and a cross-curricular approach through Rising Stars. All pupils access a consistent and relevant range of experiences in school and on visits out which leads to showcasing within school and the local community. Your Fort Project sounds great for art skills development, as does working with Twisted Vista for dance. It's also good to see that the pandemic didn't stop your arts engagement which continued through online means.’

Dr Darren Henley CBE, Chief Executive of the Arts Council, said:

“I would like to congratulate Charlton Primary School on their Artsmark Award. Becoming an Artsmark school demonstrates that through offering a broad, ambitious, and creative curriculum, every pupil can develop character and resilience, increasing their knowledge, curiosity and skills that will remain with them through to adult life.”

We’re extremely proud of achieving our Artsmark Silver Award. We are committed to delivering a high-quality arts and cultural education and we look forward to continue to grow with Artsmark.