Summary highlights and key changes

 Purpose of study is brief, highlighting four key areas.  It aims that all pupils:

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
• become proficient in using drawing, painting , sculpture and other creative expressions
• evaluate and analyse artistic works using the language of art, craft and design
• know about great artists, craftsmen and designers and understand historical development of their art forms

Key points for schools to consider

Progression

There is no specific guidance as to how to plan for progression.   It is important to consider “best practice” to ensure that progression is built into the curriculum.  It would be useful for art subject leaders to refer their colleagues to the recent Ofsted documents on Art and Design – Making a Mark, 2012

Resources

The range of art resources remain the same although the use of specific media has been highlighted to include: drawing and mark making materials, paint, printmaking and clay.  Sketchbooks/Creative Journals are introduced in KS2, but there is no reason that they shouldn’t be introduced earlier. There are resource implications with the purchasing of sketchbooks – schools may want to consider investing in the highest quality books, in order pupils to work with the same book from Year 3 (or earlier) to Year 6.  This practice is an excellent way of tracking progression and informing planning and teaching.   Current ideas for Creative Journals are on Barnes Primary School’s website. Opportunities for gallery visits and to work with creative practitioners in school may not be readily available to pupils due to the pressure of timetable and focus on core subjects – this has always been the case but still needs highlighting.

Roles and responsibilities

It is imagined the staffing will remain the same.  However, with the less prescriptive content of the PoS, Art subject leaders may receive more requests for support/ professional development in planning for progression, assessment opportunities and developing subject knowledge and skills of the team. 

Professional development

Schools will need to ensure that subject leaders/class teachers are given INSET relating to knowledge, understanding and skills in Art.  It is important that subject leaders attend termly twilight support meetings organised by Richmond Workforce Development team, where the content and delivery of the new curriculum for Art is being considered. It is a good idea for colleagues to look at the Art subject association website (National Society for Education in Art and Design).  The website has an up to date list of CPD opportunities and support for Art teaching. Museums and galleries have excellent education PD resources.  Being so close to London Galleries (National Gallery, Tate, V and A, Royal Academy) is advantageous.  However, Orleans House Gallery in Twickenham, provides a comprehensive service of excellent workshops for schools, as outreach and on-site, as well as INSET and teachers’ evenings.  

Timetabling

There is no specific requirement with regard to the amount of time that should be spent on Art and Design teaching.  It is imagined that the timetabling for Art will remain the same and certainly no less than it is already.

Curriculum content

The focus on ‘(great) artists’ needs to be expanded upon so that colleagues are aware of what this might mean – what artists are being used in the Art curriculum?  Is there repetition over key stages (e.g. Van Gogh or Monet)? Consider looking at the work of contemporary artists from genre other than painting (photography, installations, film, and sculpture)?  It is also important to explore what is meant by ‘creativity’ or the ‘creative processes’ to enable colleagues to consider this element of learning – how will this be done?

The image above is a particularly successful example of cross-curricular working.  Inspired by the Art of the 1951 exhibition at The South Bank, Head Teacher Andrew King and Artist Educator Dominique Holt (www.dominiqueholt.com) worked with year 6 students at Chase Bridge School Twickenham, and the National Physical Laboratory Teddington on this Microscopic Art project.  Children collected leaves from school grounds and looked at them under electron microscopes, finding tiny plant and animal cells to photograph, draw and paint back in the classroom.  Children worked together to create 12 beautiful acrylic canvases of the very tiny seen large, as part of the school’s 60th anniversary celebrations.

 

Case Studies

Take One Picture – St James’s 

St James’s has taken part in the Take One Picture project for a number of years. Take One Picture is a countrywide scheme run by The National Gallery. Each year the Gallery selects a picture to become the main focus of the project. The aim is to use the selected piece of artwork to inspire cross curricular learning in primary schools. The project has not only allowed the opportunity to develop creative artwork at St James’s but has also developed children’s learning through a range of curriculum areas. The project encourages schools to focus not only on the final product but the process by which children can develop their skills and abilities. Each Take One Picture project runs for a year which allows schools to immerse themselves in the painting and the cross-curricular approach to learning. At the end of each project the National Gallery puts together an exhibition of children’s work in which a wide range of interpretations can be enjoyed. This was an ideal opportunity for the children and whole school community to celebrate their work and achievements.

Impact on the children

The opportunity to develop children’s cultural development is offered through the Take One Picture project. A previously selected picture was painted by the French artist Seurat. This allowed teacher’s the opportunity to develop children’s understanding of a different culture and provided an opportunity for the development of French across the school in line with St James’s creative approach to MFL.

The project encourages children to develop critical thinking skills such as defining, describing, classifying, sequencing, comparing and contrasting in line with the schools development of thinking skills. These skills are used to introduce and analyse the painting across the entire primary age range.

By using the children’s interests to create varied lines of enquiry the project allows children the opportunity to explore ideas and develop creative work without there being a right or wrong answer. This has been particularly valuable in developing the skills of children who are risk averse creating an open community of enquiry which goes beyond the class, year group and even the school gates.

The quality of the work produced across the curriculum is high, and shows both depth and breadth to children’s learning.

 Professional development of teaching staff

By utilising teacher’s expertise in a particular area the Take One Picture project has allowed teaching staff the opportunity to use their skills to plan and teach in a range of year groups, developing a whole school community of enquiry.

The Take One Picture project has allowed staff to work together in order to plan a range of activities across the school. Teachers have been able to consider ways in which aspects of the selected picture can be linked to current planning. This has helped ensure that progression and continuity is in place across the whole school.

The visiting experts have helped to develop practise and skills in areas such as art and design, drama, dance, physical development, music, science and history.

Involving the wider community

Take One Picture has provided many opportunities for the school to involve the whole community, including visits to local areas which link to the selected picture. During a Take One Picture project on the Seurat painting, The Bathers, year 3 children visited a local garden where children were able to re-create and experience the scene depicted in the original painting.

Involving local experts in the project has been an effective way to inspire and motivate. A local band and archery organisation have previously been invited to the school which has allowed children the opportunity to experience different elements of the selected picture.

Involving parents in the Take one Picture project has allowed them the opportunity to share their expertise with the children, whether it be building, film making, and cooking, dancing or historical knowledge. It has also helped to develop a home, school partnership which has immensely benefited the children’s learning and their sense of pride and satisfaction in their work.

Whole school competitions in photography (themes have included Luxury, Leisure and Heroes) have reinforced children’s learning outside school.

Exhibiting the work within the school both on display boards (prior to February Parent’s Evening) and as part of an end of year arts event (where the school hall hosts a day and evening long exhibition with musical and drama performances) has been a wonderful way to celebrate children’s achievements and thank the wider school community for their support.

 Costing and resources

Although there is no initial cost to involve a school in the Take One Picture project we would recommend that one or more members of staff attend the Gallery’s INSET which costs £90 per place.

Additionally, involving local agencies/experts and providing additional resources means that the cost for our three form entry primary has been as much as £3000.
Costs for the project can be minimised by encouraging parents to share their expertise and by utilising staff across the school. In terms of visiting the painting using public transport a trip to The National Gallery is free and there is no charge for an educational workshop.

A local charity, scrapstore, offers creative resources to schools for free and is an ideal way to gather resources for the project at a minimal cost.

Developing the children’s knowledge of great artists – Chase Bridge

There is little detail specified in the Art and Design programme of study which gives Richmond schools great scope to develop the aspect that requires schools ‘to be taught about great artists … in history’ as there are an abundance locally. We have built in the study of J.M.W. Turner into the curriculum as he was a local resident for over 20 years and worked with the Turner’s House Trust and community artist Stuart Simler to develop this aspect of the curriculum. Orleans House Gallery has been particularly helpful in providing contacts and links.

The development of the school buildings gave us an opportunity to enhance the site and consider how we could use it to support the curriculum. We wanted to ensure that we celebrated our local area and were fortunate to discover that there were a number of artists we could choose from including J.M.W. Turner who lived in Twickenham for over 20 years. We named our gallery after him and the children designed a plaque for that space.

We have always found the Orleans Gallery education staff enormously helpful and we have frequently gone to them for advice and guidance. They recommended a number of artists that might be suitable to work on our project. They suggested Stuart Simler.

Stuart has previously worked successfully on other art projects with the school and helped to develop the brief and come up with a project plan for working with the children.

The year 5 artists were introduced to the work of J.M.W Turner and asked to observe qualities and characteristics of some of his best known paintings.  After a group discussion about their observations the children were asked to create their own Turner inspired drawings using pastels.

Basing these compositions on a combination of ‘Carisbrooke Castle’ and ‘Rain, Steam and Speed……..’ and with the added theme of rugby because of the close link to the neighbouring Twickenham Stadium, pupils produced wonderfully interpreted creations.

Applying these new skills to the large-scale canvases on display, our young artists continued their artistic developments by learning acrylic painting techniques, such as under-painting, scumbling and palette knife work.

The process began with a simple rough composition, sketched out by Stuart Simler, the artist leading the collaboration. Each individual canvas was worked on by five Chase Bridge pupils on the first visit. The second painting day saw a change in the process as it became important to connect these individual pieces with one another so the young artists worked on two canvases butted up against each other. As the painting progressed into the third and final day this connection was ever more relevant and lead to a smaller number of artists working on the painting as a whole. During this final day, the application of painting mediums; gloss gel, glazing medium and a coarse pumice medium were worked into the canvas in key areas to enhance the aesthetic effect.

The final painting, which measures nearly 4 metres in length, has resulted in the successful collaboration of 60 young artists and honours Turner; a local artist and one of the world’s greatest painters.

 

 We have also benefitted by making good links with the local Turner’s House Trust and a number of our children were able to visit Solus Lodge (now named Sandycombe Lodge) in St. Margaret’s, East Twickenham.

Twickenham Museum were also a useful source of information. They have information about a range of other significant artists that either lived or worked locally.

The work on this and other visual and performing arts projects helped to ensure that we met the criteria to be awarded the Artsmark Gold Award. The application process was useful as a self-evaluation tool and we would recommend it to other schools that are looking to develop and enhance their provision in the arts.