Art and Design

Art and design at Archibald builds on the Early Years, where children explore paint, clay, pencils and fabrics, develop fine motor control and learn to notice shape, pattern, texture and colour in the world around them. It is built on the Cornerstones Curriculum, with two projects each term that develop drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture and textiles alongside knowledge of artists, designers and cultural traditions. Colour shows how knowledge builds. Every year begins with a colour project. Pupils learn primary and secondary colours and the colour wheel in Years 1 and 2. They move on to complementary, analogous, warm and cool colours in Years 3 and 4, then tints, tones and shades and the colour palettes of artistic movements in Years 5 and 6. Each new project then asks pupils to apply that colour knowledge in a different medium.

Pupils study a deliberately wide range of artists and traditions. These include Frida Kahlo and James Rizzi in Key Stage 1, LS Lowry, Bell Beaker pottery and Islamic geometric art in Year 3, Bankura terracotta horses and Roman mosaics in Year 4, Edvard Munch and ancient Chinese bronzes in Year 5, and Inuit printmakers and significant Black artists in Year 6. Art often draws on the local area. Year 1 pupils sketch the streets around school for a James Rizzi-style mural, and Year 3 pupils create their own Lowry-style ‘Coming Out of School’. Sketchbooks are used from Year 1 to record observations, test techniques and develop ideas, and they become more reflective as pupils move through the school. Projects are linked to history and geography learning, for example Prehistoric Pots alongside the Stone Age and Taotie alongside ancient China. Every project ends with pupils evaluating their own and others’ work using subject vocabulary, and a short knowledge check assesses what they have remembered. By the end of Year 6, pupils can plan and complete independent work in a range of media, explain the significance of artists from different times and cultures, and critique their own work with confidence.