Holmwood School

Art and Design at Holmwood School and Nursery

Art and Design Vision

At Holmwood School, we believe that Art stimulates creativity, imagination and inventiveness. We believe that through the teaching of Art, our pupils are given the skills and knowledge necessary for them to express responses to ideas and experiences. It fires their imagination, whilst instilling a sense of calm and positive wellbeing, making Art and Design a fundamental area of our curriculum.

We strive for our children to be excited, inspired and passionate about Art and Design. We strive to ensure that all children are given opportunities to explore a range of media, and experiment with colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. Self-evaluation of work is encouraged and children are taught how to develop and critique their own work. From Nursery and Reception, we provide children with a broad and exciting Art curriculum which allows them to develop their artistic skill, gain knowledge and develop confidence when using subject specific vocabulary, which continues progressively until the end of KS1.

Our teaching of Art and Design follows three main strands: drawing (using a range of media such as pencil, charcoal, oil pastels and chalk), painting (to explore colour) and sculpture. Children are also provided with a wealth of additional art experiences such as collage and printing. This enables the children to leave our school at the end of KS1 with a range of different Art experiences, skills, knowledge and a love of Art. We ensure that children explore a diverse range of artists and sculptors from various cultures and periods of time, and we encourage our children to form opinions of their work.

“Art is not just a subject to learn, but an activity that you can practise with your hands, your eyes, your whole personality.”

Quentin Blake

We strive for our children to become Artists; creators, critics and lovers of Art and Design.

Art and Design Progression of Knowledge and Skills