Overview

Whilst studying art at Totley Primary School, pupils develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to create, appreciate and evaluate a wide range of artworks. Art is valued as a vehicle for creativity, individual expression and the development of cultural capital, with significance and meaning for all children.

The curriculum is carefully sequenced so that pupils progressively build skills in drawing and mark-making, painting, printing and sculpture. Prior learning is revisited and built upon, supporting children to develop confidence and expertise as artists over time.

Pupils learn about a range of artists whose work exemplifies the techniques and styles being studied, equipping them with artistic vocabulary and the tools to critique, compare and evaluate artwork with confidence.

Teaching prioritises exploration, practice and the iterative creative process, with sketchbooks used from Year 2 onwards to record ideas, experimentation and development towards a final outcome. Digital media is used purposefully where it enhances the quality of children’s work.

Art lessons are engaging, inclusive and purposeful, making meaningful links across the curriculum so that learning is authentic, inspiring and challenging for all pupils.

Reception

Key focus

Exploration, pattern, colour and meaning

Key topics

  • Printing with pattern and texture

  • Colour mixing and self-portraits

  • Giving meaning to marks

  • Shape, pattern and texture in sculpture

Key artists

  • Damien Hirst (repetition and pattern)

  • Piet Mondrian (colour, line and shape)

  • Wassily Kandinsky (expressive marks and abstraction)

  • Barbara Hepworth (simple sculptural form)

Year 1

Key focus

Observation and basic technique

Key topics

  • Repeated printing and stamping

  • Colour mixing to create mood

  • Line, outline and pen drawing

  • Cutting, rolling and coiling clay

Key artists

  • Lynn Flavell (printing inspired by food and pattern)

  • Henri Matisse (colour and composition)

  • Maurice Sendak (expressive line and texture)

  • Andy Goldsworthy (natural sculpture)

Year 2

Key focus

Experimentation with tone, texture and mood

Key topics

  • Mono printing

  • Mood through colour and paint

  • Pastels, light and shadow

  • Combining coils and texture in clay

Key artists

  • Jan Tcega (monoprinting and nature)

  • Vincent van Gogh (colour, mood and mark-making)

  • Anne Kindl (pastel techniques)

  • Nuala O’Donovan (pattern and form in sculpture)

Year 3

Key focus

Observation, process and refinement

Key topics

  • Collagraph printing

  • Watercolour techniques and layering

  • Viewfinders and perspective through tone

  • Joining clay and understanding firing

Key artists

  • Hester Cox (collagraph printmaking)

  • Claude Monet (light and observation)

  • Georgia O’Keeffe (scale and focus)

  • Beth Cavener (expressive sculptural form)

Year 4

Key focus

Expressive choices and developing technique

Key topics

  • Printing blocks (adding and removing material)

  • Colour vs tone and tonal mixing

  • Mood and atmosphere through drawing

  • Maquettes and armatures

Key artists

  • John Banting (block printing)

  • Hester Berry (expressive landscapes)

  • Georges Seurat (tone and contrast)

  • Antoni Gaudí (decorative surface and form)

Year 5

Key focus

Composition, perspective and iteration

Key topics

  • Two-colour lino printing

  • En plein air painting

  • One-point perspective drawing

  • Sculpting from form using armatures

Key artists

  • Tony Bevan (relief and block printing)

  • Claude Monet (impressionism and en plein air)

  • Vincent van Gogh (perspective and space)

  • Beth Cavener (maquettes and expressive figures)

Year 6

Key focus

Artistic intent, proportion and impact

Key topics

  • Screen printing and propaganda

  • Media choice, composition and evaluation

  • Two-point perspective and advanced tone

  • Human form and proportion in sculpture

Key artists

  • Andy Warhol (screen printing and repetition)

  • John Singer Sargent (media and composition)

  • M. C. Escher (reflection and perspective)

  • Henry Moore (human form)

  • Antony Gormley (proportion, meaning and expression)