Vision
At Springfield Community Primary School, we believe that creativity is essential for a well-rounded education. Our vision for Art and Design is to foster a love of learning, encouraging children to explore their ideas and experiences while developing an appreciation for Art and Design. We aim to make Art and Design enjoyable and accessible for all children, helping them express their thoughts and feelings using specific vocabulary. This empowers them to be creative and boosts their communication skills and confidence.
Intent
Our Art and Design curriculum follows the Kapow scheme, which helps children see the connections between Art and Design and other subjects. By making these connections, we support a well-rounded approach to learning that enhances artistic skills and encourages creative thinking. Our vision emphasises continuity and growth within the school, ensuring that children build their artistic skills as they advance in their education.
We aim to inspire children through the Kapow scheme, building their confidence to experiment and innovate in their artistic practices. Developed by experts, this scheme provides numerous opportunities for children to cultivate their abilities and explore their interests.
An important aspect of our curriculum is helping children understand the historical and cultural factors that have shaped different art forms over time. By learning about the context and stories behind various artworks, children can develop a deeper appreciation for creativity and its many forms.
The Kapow scheme supports students in meeting the National Curriculum’s end-of-key-stage goals and complies with the National Society for Education in Art and Design’s progression standards. Kapow Primary is also an Artsmark partner, supporting schools on their Artsmark journey and inspiring children to engage with the arts and culture.
Implementation
Kapow Primary’s Art and Design scheme includes five important strands:
- Generating ideas
- Using sketchbooks
- Making skills, including formal elements such as line, shape, tone, texture, pattern, and colour
- Knowledge of artists
- Evaluating and analysing
Each unit of lessons is organized in a sequence that helps children build their skills and knowledge for various outcomes. The formal elements, which are key to the National Curriculum, are integrated throughout the units. Important skills are revisited repeatedly with increasing complexity, allowing children to reinforce their previous learning. Units in each year group focus on four main areas:
- Drawing
- Painting and mixed media
- Sculpture and 3D work
- Craft and design
We map our curriculum to show which units cover the National Curriculum goals and the key strands. Our progression of knowledge and skills outlines what is taught in each year group and how these skills develop to ensure that children meet the necessary targets by the end of each key stage. This enables the staff to activate prior knowledge before moving the children’s learning on, The Kapow Art units guide essential, age-appropriate learning that can be adapted for cross-curricular links. Creativity and independent outcomes are fully integrated into the units, allowing students to make their own creative choices, resulting in art that is unique and personal to each pupil.
Most lessons are practical, promoting hands-on and exploratory learning. Pupils across the school use sketchbooks to document their ideas, while Key EYFS showcases their creativity by displaying their art in classrooms and at home. Kapow Primary also supports teachers who may feel unsure about their artistic abilities. Videos created by subject specialists demonstrate art techniques, ensuring that the teaching of Art at Springfield CPS is of the highest standard. Every unit includes multiple teacher videos to assist with developing subject knowledge and ongoing professional development. Kapow was designed to give teachers the confidence to deliver a complete Art and Design curriculum, providing support to ensure high-quality lessons that encourage student growth.
Impact
Kapow Primary’s curriculum encourages children to take part in evaluating their work and discussing ways to improve. Through regular discussions, children not only learn important facts about art but also can confidently express their own learning journeys, enhancing their critical thinking skills and understanding of improvement.
The effectiveness of Kapow Primary’s scheme can be assessed through formative and summative evaluation in the form of an ‘end piece’. Each lesson provides guidance for teachers to assess students against learning objectives.
By the end of their time at Springfield CPS, children should leave with a range of artistic techniques, confidence, and creativity that provide a solid foundation in art and design.
Following the Kapow Primary Art and Design scheme, we expect children to:
- Create artwork by exploring and recording their ideas and experiences.
- Be skilled in drawing, painting, sculpture, and other art, craft, and design techniques.
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using specific language.
- Learn about important artists and the historical and cultural development of their work.
- Meet the end-of-key-stage expectations outlined in the National Curriculum for Art and Design.
We will keep a record of children’s experiences and progress in Art and Design through sketchbooks and digital work stored on Seesaw. Teachers will use our progression of skills and knowledge document, to accurately assess the level of each child’s work
