Art & Design

At Colham Manor, we believe Art and Design provides children with the opportunities to look at the world through the eyes of an artist and gives the children the chance to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas. Art and Design embodies some of the highest forms of human creativity.

A high-quality Art and Design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design reflects and shapes our history, and contributes to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

Our Approach

At Colham Manor Primary School we are committed to ensuring every child has access to a broad and balanced curriculum. We have carefully designed ours, delivered through Dimensions: Learning Means the World schema to teach Art and Design.

Our curriculum encourages our pupils to develop empathy as they learn more about societies, cultures and history. By engaging with Art and Design, it helps our pupils to stretch their minds beyond the boundaries of the printed text or the rules of what is provable to encompass visual-spatial learning and develop their motor skills. Through our Art and Design curriculum, pupils learn to express themselves confidently and creatively.

The skills and knowledge that children will develop throughout each theme are mapped across each year group and are progressive throughout the school.

What Does Art & Design Look Like?

Children will develop their understanding of the visual language of art with effective teaching and considered sequences of lessons and experiences. Understanding of the visual elements of art and design (line, tone, texture, colour, pattern, shape, 3D form) will be developed by providing a curriculum which will enable children to reach their full potential.

The emphasis on knowledge ensures that children understand the context of the artwork, as well as the artists that they are learning about and being inspired by. This enables links to other curriculum areas, including humanities, with children developing a considerable knowledge of individual artists, as well as individual works and art movements.

A similar systematic approach to the development of artistic skills means that children are given opportunities to express their creative imagination, as well as practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting, printing, textiles and sculpture. 

We learn about the following artists:-

Jack Kirby

Julie Taymor

Romero Britto

Jackson Pollock

Pietro D’Angelo

Christy Brown

Ivan Aivazovsky

Cesar Manrique

Theresa Elvin

The school’s Art and Design curriculum is supported through the availability of a wide range of quality resources, which are used to support children’s confidence in the use of different media.

How Can I Support My Child's Learning?

Materials

You don’t need fancy art materials. Just provide access to as many types of drawing tools as you have in the house (even Biro’s are fine). Children can draw on opened-out envelopes or the backs of food packages. Be creative and don’t feel restricted by lack of ”proper” materials.

Create Space

Obviously a child needs a physical space to work, but they also need mental space. Once you are sure they understand the activity, try not to hover and watch them. Hang back and give them space. It’s also important to let them go off on tangents – if something captures their imagination and they follow their own path, then celebrate that.

Feedback

Remember creativity is a very fragile process. (who doesn’t remember someone telling them they can’t sing or can’t draw, and then that person never revisiting that activity as an adult). When a child has made something, don’t be too quick to judge or dismiss what they have done. Try asking them to tell you about it, or try the activity yourself to see how the experience was for you, and then have a shared conversation about it. Be positive and open!