Art has the role in education 

 of helping children  

become like themselves  

instead of more  

like everyone else. 

Sydney Gurewitz Clemens. 

Why is Art so important?  

At Winnersh Primary School we believe that the study of Art is important because children learn and develop important characteristics they will need as adults: 

1. Creativity.  Art allows children to express themselves more readily than in more academic subjects such as math or science.  

2. Improved Academic Performance. The arts don’t just develop a child’s creativity—the skills they learn because of them help improve academic achievement.

3. Motor Skills.  Simple things like holding a paintbrush and scribbling with a crayon are an important element to developing a child’s fine motor skills.  

4. Confidence. While mastering a subject certainly builds a student’s confidence, there is something special about participating in the arts.  As they improve and see their own progress, their self-confidence will continue to grow. 

5. Visual Learning.  Drawing, painting, and sculpting in art class help develop visual-spatial skills.    Art education teaches students how to interpret, criticize, and use visual information, and how to make choices based on it. 

6. Decision Making. The arts strengthen problem solving and critical thinking skills. How do I express this feeling through my painting? 

7. Perseverance. Persevering with a skill such as drawing will help children to develop a growth mindset which will develop new skills and work through difficult projects. 

8. Focus. As you persevere through painting or singing or learning a part in a play, focus is imperative and focus is vital for studying and learning. 

9. Collaboration. Many of the class art projects require children to work together and teaches them that they must share responsibility and that their contribution to the group is integral to its success. 

10. Accountability.  Just like collaboration, through art, children learn that they are accountable for their contributions to the group.   

How do we teach Art? 

At Winnersh Primary School we aim to ensure all pupils have the opportunity to produce creative, imaginative work across the National curriculum and, to ensure they become confident and proficient in a variety of techniques, all pupils will complete six carefully planned art units of work per year group.  Each term, one of these units will be directly linked to their current topic whilst the other will take place during the termly whole school art week.  

The focus at the beginning of each art week will be on learning about the lives and works of a wide range of historical and contemporary artists, designers and craft makers. The children will study their artwork and explore the techniques and vocabulary associated with them.  At the design stage, they will practice their drawing techniques and then develop and record their own ideas through a range of different media.  The children will learn to evaluate their designs and the work of others using subject specific vocabulary.    

Children’s knowledge, understanding and skills will be assessed in seven key strands: 

• Developing and exploring ideas 

• Drawing 

• Painting 

• Printing 

• Collage 

• Sculptures 

• Responding to Art 

What should children be able to do by the end of primary school? 

To achieve the National Curriculum expectations for Art at the end of Key Stage 2, children must demonstrate that they are able to : 

• review and revisit ideas in their sketchbooks; 

• offer feedback using technical vocabulary;  

• think critically about their art and design work;  

• use digital technology as sources for developing ideas;   

• use key vocabulary to demonstrate knowledge and understanding in this strand: sketchbook, develop, refine, texture, shape, form, pattern, structure 

At Winnersh Primary School we hope that our carefully planned curriculum will help all children to foster a love for art as well as an inquisitiveness about the world around them.  We want to empower the children by giving them the confidence to explore new ideas, to try new techniques, to analyse their work and express an opinion on their own and other works of art.  We expect to see children’s resilience and perseverance improving as they become accustomed to continually evaluating and making improvements to their work.