Art and Design

At Alvaston Junior Academy, we aspire to instil an appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts and believe art should be fully inclusive to every child. We aim to help children develop their knowledge and skills in Art and Design through a range of learning experiences that are underpinned by our key intentions for learning in this subject:

· Engage, inspire and challenge pupils, so that they can experiment, invent and create their own works of art.

· To think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design as they progress through school.

· Produce creative work,exploring ideas and recording experiences.

· Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art and design techniques.

· Use the language of art and design to evaluate and analyse creative work.

· Know about great artists and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

In line with the 2014 National Curriculum, our aim is to provide a high-quality art and design education whichprovides a broad and balanced curriculum to ensure the progressive development of knowledge and skills. Through the study of art and design we enable children to observe and record from first-hand experience and from imagination, developing their competence in controlling materials and tools. We intend to build an art and design curriculum that enables children to acquire knowledge and become proficient in various techniques and processes, and begin to develop an awareness of the visual and tactile elements including; colour, pattern and texture, line and tone, shape, form and space, foster enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts and develop a knowledge of significant artists and designers. The objectives within each strand support the development of learning across the key stages, ensuring a solid grounding for future learning and beyond. At AJA we enable children to increase critical awareness of the roles and purposes of art and design in different times and cultures, and analyse works using the language of art and design.We intend to create and develop a cross-curricular approach to the use of art and design in all subjects. It is our intention to stimulate children’s imagination and creativity; involving them in a range of visual, tactile and sensory experiences, which enable them to communicate what they see, think and feel through the use of the elements of colour, texture, form and pattern. Art and design is taught as part of a half-termly or termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills. The work of famous local, national and international artists and designers are explored to enhance the children's learning. The children's learning is further enhanced with a whole school ‘Art Week’ when the children have the opportunity for collaborative working and exploring the different styles, we follow the style of the ‘Take One Picture’ project run by the National Gallery.

Ms Pickford is our Art and Design Curriculum leader. If you would like to know more about our Art and Desgin curriculum, please contact her at: RPickford01@alvaston.theharmonytrust.org.

“Creativity takes courage” Henri Matisse.