Art & Design | St Bernadette's C P School

Art & Design Intent

At St. Bernadette’s School, we value and prioritise the teaching of Art and ‘The Arts.’ We see them as a fundamental part of school life which allows children to express themselves with confidence and creativity.

As a school, we believe that art stimulates creativity, imagination and inventiveness. We want Art to inspire our children to improve their skills, concepts and the knowledge and to fire their imagination. We want all children to feel successful and this comes with practice and responding to constructive feedback on their work. Art gives some children who struggle academically the opportunity to really shine doing something physically and creatively.

“Art is not just a subject to learn, but an activity that you can practise with your hands, your eyes, your whole personality.” Quentin Blake

At St Bernadette’s, Art lessons enable the children to communicate what they see, feel and think. They learn to experiment with their ideas, their use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. Self-evaluation of work is encouraged and children are taught how to be resilient and persevere to achieve their goals.

Art is taught as part of St Bernadette’s ‘Our World’ curriculum which creates learning links to our history or geography-led themes. Art is interwoven into themed learning, forming meaningful links across the curriculum. For example, in Year 4, the children learn about the Ancient Egyptians and become fully immersed in the topic. While learning the history content, they also learn how to create an ancient Egyptian death mask using paper mache and experiment with using acrylic paints. They also visit The Linford Wood Arts Centre to attend a clay workshop and create Ancient Egyptian-style Canopic jars with a skilled clay tutor. They also learn how to print hieroglyphics when making an Egyptian cartouche. Throughout these art projects, the children’s learning from the wider curriculum contextualises and supports the creation of their artistic masterpieces.

Other cross-curricular learning allows children to study, evaluate and learn from the styles of famous artists. For example, when learning about the water-cycle, Year 5 pupils study the artwork of Monet and in particular his waterlilies paintings, creating their own works of art inspired by his work.

We invite external art experts to St Bernadette’s to teach specialised skills and these sessions often take place through curriculum enrichment WOW days where children are fully immersed in their learning.

At St Bernadette’s we are fully committed to providing an ‘Arts-Rich Curriculum’ for our children. We believe engagement through ‘The Arts’ can contribute to the quality of our children’s lives, both within and beyond school.

We see art and design as a means to support learning in a range of ways. The skills that are developed in these subjects are regularly transferred across the curriculum and thus aid learning.
As a school, and in accordance with the National Curriculum’s expectations, we aim to ensure that all pupils:

Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms