Art at Ryedene
“We are artists”
Subject Leader: Miss Morgan
My name is Miss Morgan and I am the subject lead for Art at Ryedene. Art has always been a subject close to my heart and was a particular favourite of mine when I was in school many years ago! I love leading art because it gives every single child a unique voice. In our art room, there are no wrong answers - only brilliant ideas, original choices, and wonderful discoveries. Watching a child grow from a hesitant mark-maker into a confident creator is incredibly rewarding. For me, art is not just about the final masterpiece on the wall. It is about the joy, the mess, and the valuable problem-solving that happens along the way. When children mix colours, shape clay, or experiment with texture, they learn how to think outside the box. They build resilience when things do not go as planned, and they find new ways to communicate their feelings. I am proud to shape an inclusive curriculum where our children can think like real artists, take creative risks, and express who they are.
Vision: At Ryedene Primary and Nursery School, we value the importance of delivering a high-quality, culturally rich and creative curriculum. We believe art can have a powerful and positive effect on children, helping them to become confident, creative learners who are able to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas. We believe that a high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire, and challenge all pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As our pupils’ progress on their art journey, we support them to be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design, allowing them to leave for secondary school as well-rounded artists.
What we are teaching in Art:
At our school, we use the expert-designed Kapow Primary scheme of work to deliver a vibrant, high-quality art education. This scheme is fully aligned with the National Curriculum and ensures that our children build their skills progressively from Reception all the way to Year 6.
Our curriculum focuses on four main areas of study:
- Drawing: Developing mark-making, exploring tone, and sketching from observation.
- Painting and Mixed Media: Learning colour theory, mixing paint, and creating textures.
- Sculpture and 3D: Working with physical materials like clay, wire, and paper papier-mâché.
- Craft and Design: Exploring practical and traditional art forms like printmaking, textiles, and mosaic work.
Throughout every project, children revisit five core strands: generating ideas, using sketchbooks, mastering making skills, exploring formal elements (like line, shape, and colour), and evaluating their work. Our pupils also study a diverse range of great artists, craft makers, and designers throughout history, inspiring them to invent their own unique masterpieces with confidence.
How we teach Art: At Ryedene, we have a specialist Art teacher who, along with all teachers follow the Kapow Primary scheme of work to guide them and support them to meet the broad artistic outcomes in line with the National Curriculum. Teachers have a clearly outlined key documents pack to support them including: a knowledge organiser with prior learning links, skills progression, a Long-Term Plan and Medium-Term plans which are carefully constructed offering a sequence of learning. Planning has the required learning outcomes on as well as teacher and pupil videos and adaptive teaching options, thus supporting teachers to deliver a consistent and universal Art education. Lesson plans also ensure children recall necessary skills before starting a lesson, resource lists and assessment guidance.
Impact – what the children have learnt:
Pupils across our school enjoy having a broad Art curriculum, where they can practice and improve skills within drawing, painting, sculpture and craft. It is expected that teaching and learning will show progression across all key stages within the strands of Art and Design. It is our aim that children retain knowledge and skills taught within each unit of work, remember these, and understand how to use and apply these in their own artwork, whilst beginning to understand what being an ‘artist’ means. To ensure our art curriculum has a lasting impact, we look closely at progress in several ways. We assess children’s progress throughout each unit. We regularly observe classes and review sketchbooks to ensure technical skills are developing steadily over time. Additionally, Pupils' discussions are used to discuss their learning, thoughts, ideas, and evaluations of work (pupil voice). Artwork is proudly displayed on our school walls, showing the immense pride our children take in their artwork and how they confidently apply their creative skills.
