Subject managers Emma Quinn & Emily Sutcliffe

Intent: Our Ethos

Art and Design at Parkinson Lane Community Primary School is underpinned by a clear, ambitious and inclusive intent that is coherently sequenced and designed to build powerful knowledge alongside creativity, technical skill and critical thinking. Our curriculum equips children with the knowledge, skills and vocabulary they need to become confident, reflective and expressive artists who can communicate ideas, feelings and meaning visually.

We believe that developing pupils’ visual literacy is essential in a world that is increasingly shaped by images, symbols and design. Through Art and Design, pupils learn to observe carefully, think critically, make informed choices and express themselves creatively. They develop an understanding of line, shape, colour, form, texture, tone, pattern, composition and process, and learn how these elements are used by artists and designers to communicate meaning.

Our curriculum actively promotes diversity and representation by introducing pupils to a wide range of artists, designers and craftspeople from different cultures, backgrounds, disciplines and historical periods. This builds cultural capital and ensures that all pupils can see themselves reflected in the creative world.

Art and Design at Parkinson Lane CPS contributes to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and supports preparation for life in modern Britain by fostering empathy, curiosity, resilience, independence and creativity.

Implementation: What We Do

Our Art and Design curriculum is carefully sequenced, cumulative and progressive from Early Years through to Year 6, informed by the National Curriculum and lower KS3 expectations. Knowledge, skills and techniques are revisited, refined and deepened over time so that learning becomes secure, connected and transferable.

Each unit follows a consistent pedagogical structure:

Explore → Develop → Create → Reflect → Refine, enabling pupils to understand that high-quality artwork develops through experimentation, evaluation and improvement.

Quality First Teaching underpins all provision. This includes:

• clear learning intentions and success criteria,
• explicit teaching and modelling of artistic techniques and vocabulary,
• scaffolded tasks with a gradual release of responsibility,
• retrieval practice and spaced revisiting of key concepts,
• purposeful questioning to probe understanding and promote higher-order thinking,
• timely, specific feedback that supports improvement.

Teachers use assessment for learning to identify misconceptions, adapt teaching responsively and ensure that all pupils are supported and challenged appropriately. Inclusion is built into planning so that adaptations are proactive rather than reactive.

Pupils explore the work of artists, designers and craftspeople through books, digital sources, museum collections, galleries and real artefacts. They learn to analyse, interpret, compare and critique artwork and apply these insights to their own creative practice.

Cross-curricular links with history, geography, science, literature and PSHE strengthen conceptual understanding and real-world relevance.

Tracking and Monitoring Progress

Assessment in Art and Design is continuous, formative and purposeful. Teachers assess pupils’ knowledge, understanding, skills and application against clearly defined progression criteria aligned with the National Curriculum.

Progress is monitored half-termly to ensure that pupils are building secure and cumulative understanding over time. Sketchbooks and portfolios capture pupils’ thinking, experimentation, reflection and development and are passed on to ensure continuity between year groups. Pupils are taught to evaluate their own and others’ work constructively, developing reflective, metacognitive learners who can set targets and understand how to improve.

Provision for SEND Learners

The Art and Design curriculum is inclusive and ambitious for all learners. SEND provision is embedded through Quality First Teaching strategies such as:

• chunked instructions and clear modelling,
• visual supports and key vocabulary prompts,
• adapted tools, materials and outcomes,
• flexible grouping and adult support where appropriate,
• alternative methods of recording and presenting ideas.

Teachers use the progression framework to identify gaps, revisit prior learning and plan appropriate scaffolding and challenge. Specialist staff and the art technician enhance access while maintaining high expectations for all pupils.

Provision for Gifted and Talented Learners

Pupils working at greater depth are challenged through increased complexity, independence and abstraction. They engage with open-ended creative briefs, extended investigations and iterative refinement of ideas and outcomes.

They are supported to take creative risks, think critically, justify artistic decisions, evaluate techniques and experiment with media and process, demonstrating secure disciplinary understanding and originality.

Working at greater depth, pupils:

• analyse and critique artwork with insight,
• experiment with materials and techniques independently,
• refine and adapt ideas systematically,
• articulate artistic intent clearly,
• make informed aesthetic choices,
• produce original, purposeful and well-executed outcomes.

Enrichment

At Parkinson Lane Community Primary School, first-hand experience is regarded as a core entitlement within the Art and Design curriculum. We recognise that direct engagement with artworks, creative processes, artists, designers and cultural institutions is essential for developing pupils’ understanding, aspiration and cultural literacy. We therefore place significant im

Educational visits, visiting practitioners, workshops, exhibitions, performances, galleries, studios and extracurricular clubs are systematically integrated into the curriculum to enhance cultural capital, deepen conceptual understanding and strengthen pupils’ engagement with the arts. These experiences provide authentic contexts for learning and enable pupils to connect classroom-based knowledge with the lived reality of artistic and creative practice.

Where possible, pupils are offered opportunities to participate in national and international visits, including trips abroad, in order to broaden cultural horizons, foster global awareness and develop an understanding of the international nature of art, design and creative industries. Such experiences support pupils in appreciating cultural diversity and in recognising the shared and distinctive ways in which creativity is expressed across the world.

The school adopts a holistic view of the arts, recognising that art, craft, design, architecture, performance, digital media and visual culture are interconnected disciplines that inform and enrich one another. Pupils are supported to make meaningful connections between these areas and to understand how creative practices shape, reflect and respond to society.

Through this ambitious programme of enrichment, the school aims to raise aspirations, support personal and cultural development, and strengthen the relationship between school learning, cultural life and potential future pathways within the creative and cultural sectors.

Early Years

In Early Years, Art and Design is embedded through continuous provision and purposeful play. Children explore materials, tools and processes through sensory, exploratory and imaginative experiences.

Adults model language, techniques and thinking, enabling children to develop confidence, independence and curiosity. Children are encouraged to reflect on their work, adapt ideas and express preferences, laying strong foundations for later artistic and technical learning.

Blended Learning

Digital platforms are used purposefully to support research, modelling, retrieval and reflection. Remote and blended learning is accessible, structured and inclusive, ensuring continuity and equity of provision.

Digital literacy is developed progressively so that pupils can use technology safely, responsibly and effectively to support learning in Art and Design and across the wider curriculum