At Christ the Sower, CARE is at the heart of our aspirational and ambitious art curriculum. We believe art is essential to inspire engagement, reflection, and aspiration. We firmly believe that it will provide them with the skills, concepts, and knowledge necessary to express responses to ideas and experiences. Our curriculum is expressly written to encourage creativity and imagination, whilst being challenging and ambitious for all. We draw on a wide range of stimuli and aspirational artists to broaden our pupils’ horizons and reflect the diverse community we serve.

Developing individual well-being and happiness is key to providing the ‘Good earth’ for our children and they are firmly embedded into our art teaching. Children build their confidence and ability to persevere when experimenting and making decisions about their ideas, their use of colour, texture, line, form, shape, space, pattern, and different materials and processes. Children are given meaningful opportunities to design and make products through drawing, painting, and sculpture amongst other art, craft, and design skills. Sketchbooks are key to our vision for art, as they record the children’s experiences and imagination, helping them to develop their ideas and to show progression in their artistic ability. Our cross-curricular approach values art and embeds knowledge and the transfer of skills across a broad range of subjects. 

Our children are allowed to understand how art and design reflect and shape our history and diversity whilst also contributing to our culture, creativity, and the wealth of our nation. Raising the level of cultural capital in our children improves their opportunities to succeed academically and engage in wider society.  Through our ART curriculum at CTS, we encourage children to aspire to a successful future in the knowledge that an educational or career path in the creative arts is open to all. 

• The art curriculum at Christ the Sower, is underpinned by the National Curriculum and the school’s CARE ethos and Christian Values. Lesson objectives and assessment objectives are provided for consistency and progression in learning.
• We serve a diverse community and all religious and cultural backgrounds have been considered in the planning of our art curriculum.
• We are proud to offer a hugely diverse and inspirational curriculum that encompasses the diversity of our community, whilst also broadening the horizons and outlook of every single one of our children.
• Art and Design activities are taught using a cross-curricular approach, embedding knowledge and transferring skills to ensure that learning is embedded in the long-term memory.
• The CARE ART curriculum engages, inspires, and challenges children to increase their knowledge and ability to experiment with different media to create their works of art.
• Technical vocabulary is always provided and embedded through discussion, particularly when comparing and analysing the work of different aspirational artists.
• CARE is embedded into all lessons/learning to ensure that ALL children can aspire highly, reflect on their work, and make meaningful and relevant choices of media as appropriate to the task.
•  Reading skills are applied in the analysis and critique of art.
• The Art curriculum develops cultural capital by building upon the knowledge and skills of our varied cohort and seeks to address the range of gaps, particularly those who are disadvantaged and SEND who typically do not have access to opportunities and experiences such as art galleries.
• A range of artists’ work is appraised in lessons across the entire curriculum.

Implementation

Our CARE Curriculum for ART is based on the National Curriculum and underpinned by our CARE values of Choices, Aspiration, Reflection and Engagement. Art skills are built around topics  to ensure that we provide a well-sequenced and ambitious approach for all learners. The children are taught Art as a discrete subject, alternating half-termly with Design and Technology. 

All pupils explore and use a variety of media and material through their Art lessons and skills are taught to build technique progressively. While focussing on key skills such as sketching, painting, colour mixing, sculpture and collage, famous local, national and international artists are explored to enhance the children's learning and to encourage our children to aspire highly and engage in the subject as artists themselves. 

Impact

The creativity of all our pupils is celebrated through communal displays, publishing on the weekly newsletter and on our website, facebook  and Twitter feeds.

Ongoing assessment takes place throughout the year. Teachers use this information to inform future lessons; ensuring children are supported and challenged appropriately. Assessments are analysed and gaps in attainment are addressed.

Children in Foundation Stage are assessed within the Early Learning Goals and progress is tracked using their individual learning journeys on Tapestry