Art

Intent

At Ringwood Junior School we seek to provide valuable and enjoyable creative experiences, where seeing, feeling, thinking and making are combined and children are free to express themselves. This is achieved through a broad, balanced, and ambitious curriculum in which we cover a range of different mediums and skills and provide a rich variety of artwork and appreciation of different artists, designers, architectures and craftsmen.

Success in art can be expressed in many different areas of the curriculum and can be taught through different topics, allowing it to be meaningful and purposeful to the child. We aim to offer all pupils equal access to the art curriculum and we encourage the use of the sketchbook as a tool for development and exploration, helping each child to find their creative stimulus and become artists. We strive to ensure that children at Ringwood Junior understand art is a process and not just a final product.

Implementation

Art is taught termly in blocks of learning and lasts between 6-8 weeks. All art units have been planned and resourced by the subject leader and the majority of projects link to the current geography or history learning, allowing for strong cross-curricular learning opportunities to take place. Key knowledge, skills and opportunities for self-reflection are planned into every lesson and medium-term planning and knowledge organisers ensure key skills and knowledge are being taught and this is then tracked in the progression documents to ensure all knowledge and skills are consistently being built on throughout the four years at Ringwood Junior. Every art lesson includes a practical activity that encourages the children to explore and become artists: this could be exploration in sketchbooks, responding to an artist or a piece of artwork, exploration of a particular skill or the creation of a final piece. Children use their sketchbooks as a tool for creativity and freedom and as a place to develop as artists. Their sketchbooks are a record of their journey throughout a particular project and also a record of their development as an artist throughout the year.

At Ringwood Junior every year group covers the skills of drawing, painting, printing and sculpting, to allow progression in these key areas. This also provides vital opportunities for monitoring and progression. Other art forms, such as collage, digital art and textiles are covered at least twice during their school journey. As a school we strongly feel that exposure to all art forms is essential as it allows them to truly understand all the elements of great art. Teachers are aware of the importance of instant feedback in art and are therefore constantly providing verbal feedback throughout the lesson to support learners and ensure all are able to access the learning and progress.

Art Leaders at Ringwood Junior also play a vital role in raising the profile of art and celebrating the artists and artwork within our school. This is achieved through assemblies, competitions and clubs which are all supported and ran by the school art leaders.

	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
Autumn Term	Our New School	Water	New Forest	Southampton
Spring Term	Ancient Egyptians	Romans	South America	Ancient Greece
Summer Term	Fossils	Vikings	Mayans	All About Me

Impact

As children progress through the school they will have growing knowledge of artists, tools and skills and a deep appreciation for artwork. They will develop a love for creativity and exploration and will be able to reflect on themselves and others as artists using a broad and rich vocabulary. By revisiting skills and covering all art forms, children will have a strong understanding of what art is and we will have fostered an understanding of how art is unique to us all and that we are all free to express ourselves creativity. Pupils will be confident in their use of different tools and materials and will be able to produces a range of art.

Year 3

Autumn Term - Our Special Place

Spring Term - Ancient Egyptians

Summer Term - Fossils

Year 4

Autumn Term - Water

Spring Term - Romans

Summer Term - Vikings

Year 5

Autumn Term - New Forest

Summer Term - South America

Summer Term - Mayan

Year 6

Autumn Term - Southampton: Perspective

Spring Term - Ancient Greeks

Art Competitions

Our fantastic Art Leaders provide opportunities for the children of RJS to engage in competitions and showcase their talents. We are always delighted to see so many of our talented artists taking part and are always very impressed by the different entries across all year groups.

Ringwood Junior School Limitless Learning