Kaizen Primary School

Intent

Children attending Kaizen Primary School often have very few experiences of life outside of their local area due to being located in an area of high deprivation meaning that families are not able to visit areas outside of the local area and high mobility rates. We value art as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Art provides the children with the opportunities to develop and extend skills and an opportunity to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas. We aim to show the significance of learning art through showing the career opportunities availab as part of our ‘Future Me’ initiative. 

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

The art curriculum ensures that by the time the children leave in Year 6, they will be able to: 

● creatively explore a variety of materials to design and craft unique products, using drawing, painting, and sculpture to express and share their ideas, experiences, and imaginations. This journey begins with 3D collages made from recycled materials in EYFS, progresses to clay sculptures in Year 1, papier-mâché animals in Year 2, cardboard people installations in Year 3, wire drawing in Year 4, and culminates in intricate wire and clay sculptures in Years 5 and 6. 

● develop a diverse set of art and design techniques, exploring colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form, and space. They study the work of various artists, craft makers, and designers, comparing and contrasting different practices and disciplines, while connecting these insights to their own creations. At Kaizen, children are introduced to a variety of painting mediums, learning to work with acrylic, watercolour, and oil paints to enhance their artistic expression. 

● create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas. 

● improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay] about great artists, architects and designers in history. They learn about well-known artists including Frida Kahlo, Georges Seurat, Claude Monet or Pablo Picasso and also BAME artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Joel Garcia, El Anatsui or Jean Michael Basquiat. 

The art curriculum at Kaizen begins as soon as children embark on their learning journey in the Early Years, where they are encouraged to explore art techniques and artists through the ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ strand of the EYFS curriculum. Art holds a significant place in our school through events such as 'Art Days,' art in Forest Schoo regular art lessons throughout the year, and enriching visits to major galleries like the Tate

Modern, Tate Britain, and the National Gallery. Our curriculum celebrates artists from diverse backgrounds, encompassing various colours, cultures, geographies, ages, and genders, with a particular focus on BAME artists, offering students a multi-ethnic and multicultural perspective. 

Vocabulary development plays a crucial role across the school, particularly due to many children starting at Kaizen with vocabulary levels below the typical expectations for their age. In EYFS, children begin to learn key vocabulary related to drawing, such as lines and space. This foundation is expanded in Key Stage 1 with terms like thick, thin, soft, hard, and pattern. In Key Stage 2, students build on this vocabulary and also explore more advanced terms such as viewpoint, distance, direction, angle, and perspective. 

Implementation

Art is taught in blocks throughout the year to ensure that children achieve depth in their learning. At Kaizen we split the terms between D&T and Art outcomes, with subjects alternating each half term. The termly blocks are planned using medium term plans that have been created by the art leader. These follow the national curriculum ensuring that there is a well-structured approach to this creative subject. Progression in art has been carefully mapped across the curriculum. Learning is revised frequently to ensure that teachers are clear about what has been remembered and children are then able to build upon the knowledge previously learned. 

Each year group learns about the work of a range of artists that reflect the diversity of t school communities. The children are taught to describe the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and make links to their own work. 

We teach a skills-based art curriculum, which allows children to express their creative imagination as well as providing them with opportunities to practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting and sculpture. This is supported through the studying of key artists and the development of knowledge of their work. Lessons involve studying existing pieces of art, sketching aspects of these, with a particular focus on the necessary skills, before completing a final piece. Key knowledge is identified by the leader and given to teachers to ensure that there is a progression of knowledge throughout the school. 

At Kaizen, we believe that all learners should primarily access the first quality teaching a be immersed in class discussions during art lessons. Therefore, SEND learners access the same learning as all other children but will be given further support, adapted outcomes and a tailored approach to suit each individual’s needs. Strategies used to support our SEND learners include: 

● A pre-teach of topic specific vocabula 

● Reading support when researching using a range of sources 

● Printouts of work/presentations to scaffold with independent tasks ● Instructions broken down into manageable chunks and more time given to process the information 

Children with high levels of need have a broad curriculum offer, linking into National Curriculum themes, but with scaffolded learning which meets their needs, ensuring they

are also making good progress from their initial starting points. The themes are planned to ensure that art skills and knowledge can be embedded and built upon. 

We understand that children have missed opportunities of learning because of the COVID outbreak and the resulting distance and blended learning models that were used in the previous school years. Our current teaching model ensures that any missed opportunities are addressed before teaching new concepts and topics. This pre teaching approach ensures that children are able to access the new learning and build upon their knowledge and skills. 

We also provide a variety of opportunities for art learning to take place inside and outside the classroom. Apart from an art week in Forest school, there is a Friday ongoing art station in the playground all year round for the children to freely access during their lunch breaks. Art clubs take place throughout the year after school. 

Students at Kaizen have opportunities to take part in different art competitions throughout the year (at school level, borough level and national level). 

Knowing that many of the children in our school do not leave the local area, educational visits to art galleries and museums take place throughout the year in order to open their eyes to different ideas and perspectives. These are planned in advance and ensure that all children are able to visit an art gallery by the time they leave school. 

Supportive materials are in place to ensure staff have online CPD opportunities to develop their own skills and knowledge about artistic skills as well as developing knowledge about key significant artists. The work of famous national and international artists are explor to enhance the children's learning further. 

Impact

Our art curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. We focus on progression of knowledge and skills and discreet vocabulary progression also form part of the units of work. 

In order to measure the impact of the art curriculum: 

● teachers assess children’s understanding of each unit before and after the unit is taught, 

● summative assessments take place throughout the year and teachers record the progress and attainment against the National Curriculum expectations of attainment, 

● there is a recollection of images and videos of the children’s practical learning,

● in Key Stage 1 & 2 their learning is recorded in sketch books so children can use them to review and revisit ideas, 

● pupils are asked to fill in questionnaires about their learning after each unit  taught (pupil voice). 

The impact of our art curriculum at Kaizen ensures that children are equipped with art skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready to continue their learning journey

in KS3 and for life as an adult in the wider world. Children will be clear about the careers available to them as part of our ‘Future Me’ aspect of the curriculum and continue to explore opportunities available to them.