Carlton Hill Primary School

‘Art is not what you see but what you make others see’ (Edgar Degas, French artist 1834-1917)

At Carlton Hill Primary School Art is about equipping all children to think creatively and innovatively. We encourage children to develop self-expression whilst building critical thinking skills, enabling them to interpret the world around us.

We say: ‘Art is a way of freely exploring the world around us through looking, drawing, playing and making.’

Our pupils work independently and collaboratively on art projects. We encourage them to discover their ‘voice’, reflecting on their own art and the impact of artists in our culture and history.

We teach children determination and resilience - that it is ok to not always get things right the first time and to have the courage to start again. Children experiment with different art mediums and develop sketchbook skills, enabling children to review and edit their learning.

We use a range of materials and opportunities in the curriculum to teach proficiency in key techniques such as drawing, painting, sculpture and other craft and design. Children at Carlton Hill have access to a broad range of creative experiences including:

A yearly collaborative whole school project supported by a local artist. Children also experience the rich opportunity to visit a local gallery as part of our whole school project. 

Children have opportunities to make and participate in the annual Brighton Children’s Parade, as well as art being taught discretely and through curriculum subjects.

We also have links with a local ‘Artists Quarter’ (Edward Street) and participate regularly in art competitions and community display projects.

How is our Art Curriculum organised?

^{In the teaching of our Art curriculum, we aspire to showcase a broad range of art experiences and artists from different genres and the curriculum is taught in a flexible way throughout the school.  Children are taught skills discretely as well as through a cross curricular focus. E.g. As part of Year 2 History study on Victorians, children learn about the silhouette portrait artist ‘Auguste Eduoarte’. They develop skills in drawing lines/brush strokes of different thickness and create an ombre wash background to explore adding tones of shade to their own self-portraits.}   

^{Children progress through carefully mapped skills across the year groups and as they build upon these their work becomes more complex.  In KS1 children learn to draw lines of varying thickness and add dots/lines to create pattern. In KS2 children rehearse these skills and also learn to use shading to show light and shadow effects and develop further techniques to show texture e.g. cross hatching, coiling.}

^{Opportunities are planned across the curriculum to allow children to experience all areas of art (Drawing, Painting, Printing, Collage, Sculpture, Textiles) Children demonstrate their learning through practical exploration, sketchbook work and finished pieces e.g. whole school project exhibition displays.}

^{What is the impact of our Art Curriculum?}

^{We are able to assess our Art Curriculum in the following ways:}

^Evidence

^{Throughout the year children’s learning is tracked through the use of photographic evidence e.g. developing stages of projects, finished pieces, and sketchbook work. This enables the teacher and subject leader to celebrate, review and reference learning against the skills and make adjustments to future planning/support if needed.}

^{Pupil self-assessment}

^{Our pupils are given opportunities to assess their knowledge and skills, and end of unit ‘exhibition celebrations’ (e.g. Whole School Community Art Project) provide a rich opportunity for children to showcase their art and review their own and others work.}

^{Pupil voice}

^{All of our subject leaders are given time to listen to pupils from across the school and discuss their given subjects. Our pupils experience great delight and pride in developing their individual expression in this subject – this delight and pride is one that we hope will motivate them to become individual creative artists and innovators of the future.}

Inspirations

Our curriculum draws on ideas from AccessArt a leading provider of artist-led and artist-inspired teaching and learning resources. They have been recognised for their work by Arts Council England, Nesta, DfES, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, and BIS. We are also fortunate to receive the skills and expertise of local artist and teacher Suzie Poyntz in the planning of our whole school art project.