Art and Design
At Hillborough Infant and Nursery School, through the art and design curriculum we encourage the pupils to gain the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art. Linking lessons with our creative curriculum, pupils have opportunities to develop a range of art and design skills.
In Early Years Foundation Stage pupils predict, plan, and problem solve as they create their piece of art. Pupils investigate a range of mark making tools and begin to learn different techniques, for example mixing colours in painting, drawing lines and talking about their pictures.
In Key Stage One pupils explore other techniques and skills with greater detail, for example drawing different thickness and size of lines to create textures and tones as well as gaining confidence in using a range of other tools.
All opportunities are carefully planned into our topics to provide purposeful ways for pupils to make connections or use a particular context to explore an area of focus. Pupils also learn how art and design both reflect and shape our history as well as develop their knowledge and understanding of other artists, craft makers and designers. Pupils will also be provided with opportunities to apply these skills and explore their own styles whilst creating a piece of art.
Once a term the whole school takes part in a variety of experiences, these include theatre trips and/or specialists visits by visiting theatres, which provide pupils with opportunities to gain first-hand knowledge of topics being covered. An example was when all the pupils had an artist led workshop on how to create their portraits. We also had a workshop from a local author/illustrator who showed our pupils how to draw space characters from his book.
Our pupils benefit from an extra-curricular art club, where they focus on different projects over a number of weeks.
As a part of our commitment to ensure that our pupils have access to high quality arts and are exposed to a wide range of cultural experiences, we are undertaking our Artsmark Award.
Artsmark recognises schools that bring art alive, as well as supporting the creative development in individual pupils.
We have developed a creative and enriched curriculum that enhances pupil’s motivation and a positive attitude towards learning, along with strengthening the link between our school and our local community - parents, local artists, other schools and organisations.