Intent

It is our intent at St Nicholas-at-Wade Primary School to provide pupils with a high-quality art curriculum, which develops creativity, sets challenges, engages and inspires children and equips them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.

We see art as a vehicle for creativity and individual expression. It is important to the development of pupils’ well-being, appreciation of the world and understanding and empathy of others. We aim to give all children the confidence to express themselves through a range of chosen mediums. Our curriculum provides children with an opportunity to experience all art forms: drawing, painting, 3D design and print making, and pupils are encouraged to experiment with a range of different materials and techniques to bring their ideas to life. Opportunities to practise art and design techniques when using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space are embedded across the Art curriculum through the use of individual sketchbooks. 

We want our children to know how Art & Design has contributed to our culture and understanding of our history and the world. They explore a variety of artists and their styles, which is enhanced by visiting local galleries.  Our children will focus on a variety of key artists, and they will begin to understand the development of their particular art forms. Children will have opportunities to take inspiration from these key artists and create their own artworks in their particular styles. Children are given the opportunity to work on their own and collaborate with others, on projects in two and three dimensions and on different scales. 

We also expect children to be able to look at an image or a piece of art and to have an understanding of it, not just react to it. We equip them with the skills required to have an understanding of the language of art and design. This enables them to describe what they see in detail and to provide evidence for their observations.

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” –Maya Angelou