Art & Design
Art and Design
Art and design is fundamental to cultural engagement and personal development. The subject fosters creativity, imagination and develops confidence skills that are transferable to other subjects; promotes diversity and respect, shows that making mistakes can be liberating and opens up new opportunities. This in turn, encourages our children to look at details, evaluate and form interesting creative journeys.
At SMCPS, art and design is taught in half-termly art weeks, each focussing on a different area of art and design with a cross-curricular and ‘journeyful’ approach. Our holistic approach to art learning and the encouragement of experiential knowledge in art leads to learning through art, as well as learning about art. Children have the opportunity, throughout the school year, to explore six art areas including: drawing, painting, printing, 3D art/sculpture, collage and textiles. These areas are revisited each year to develop the children’s non-linear progression. The purpose of art is to motivate children to be creative and take inspiration from our cross-curricular topics. Children are encouraged to work around a theme but also develop their individual ideas and artistic vision. Our school approach ensures children are given the creative opportunities in art, working towards their creative potential, weaving, layering and developing individual creativity. The children are encouraged to use and explore our amazing grounds to observe, explore and inspire their art. We use sketchbooks from year 1 to year 6 to record our art journey within each topic as well as art folders for EYFS.
We are proud that we have been recognised by Artsmark and awarded our first Artsmark Silver Award.
‘SMCPS have clearly demonstrated that you are promoting arts and culture values; that children and young people can develop their skills over a longer period; that a senior leader drives and develops provision across all phases, and that art is showcased and displayed effectively and clearly evidences the whole setting’s planning for arts and culture.’
Design and Technology
Design and technology gives children the skills to engage positively with the world around them by designing, making and harnessing the benefits of technology. They learn how products are designed and manufactured, how to be innovative and how to creatively use of a variety of resources, to help improve the world around them.
At our school, we encourage children to use their creativity and imagination to design and make products that solve real life problems within a variety of contexts. We teach design and technology in a cross-curricular way through our engaging ‘Knowledge Rich Learning Projects’. We aim to, wherever possible, link work to other disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing, outdoor learning and art. Children are taught the knowledge and skills required to investigate, explore, design, make and evaluate products. Their finished products are linked to the class topics and are proudly shared with other classes, parents and family members.