Here at St Anne's Primary School , Art is a joyful, creative and expressive subject where every child is encouraged to see themselves as an artist. Our curriculum is built around five key aspects of artistic skill — drawing, painting, sculpture, collage and printing. Through these disciplines, pupils develop the technical skills, confidence and imagination needed to create meaningful and expressive artwork. As a church school, we believe creativity is a gift to be nurtured. Our Art curriculum encourages children to explore, experiment and take risks, celebrating individuality and God‑given imagination. We want pupils to experience joy in making, pride in their achievements and a deep appreciation of the beauty and creativity present in the world.

Aims: The National Curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

1. Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
2. Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
3. Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
4. Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

At St Anne’s, we will achieve this by:

• Teaching art regularly. The children will cover an art topic at least once every other term and will also have additional opportunities to engage with art and design activities throughout the school year. 
• Linking art as closely as possible to the topic for the term, to ensure relevance and context.
• Teaching a predominantly skills-based curriculum, which covers drawing, painting, sculpture, collage and printing. Full details of our art curriculum can be found in our progression of skills – whole school plan document. 
• Re-capping skills throughout the children’s time in school. Skills are revisited, which progress in terms of depth and challenge, to build on the children’s previous learning. 
• Ensuring that each child develops their skills and techniques in a way appropriate to them, through clear adaptations and support, active and purposeful experiences, and using a variety of art materials and teaching strategies. 
• Introducing children to artists and art movements directly linked to the skills or topics they are covering.
• Utilising a sketchbook approach, so that children feel safe to experiment and take risks, without the fear of doing something “wrong”. 
• Openly promoting art and design as a possible further study or career choice. 
• Encouraging each child to evaluate their art and design work and that of others, both with peers and adults.
• Celebrating effort, progress and achievement in art through displays, exhibitions and enrichment activities, such as trips out and competitions.

By the end of their time with us, we want pupils to have learnt, improved and embedded a range of artistic skills. They should have an awareness of a broad range of artists , and be able to consider and discuss the artworks they come across. We want our pupils to be confident to explore, experiment and take risks, placing value on the process and journey that they take, not just on the finished product. Our intention is that every child leaves our school with strong artistic foundations, a love of creativity and an understanding of how art enriches communities, shapes culture and helps us see the world differently.