Our Art and Design curriculum develops curious, creative and knowledgeable children who learn to observe closely, explore the work of artists and designers, experiment with materials and techniques, develop their own ideas and create work with increasing skill, confidence and individuality.
| Notice | Children look closely at the world around them and at the work of artists, designers and craftspeople. They learn to notice colour, line, shape, form, pattern, texture and composition. |
| Explore | Children investigate materials, techniques and artistic processes. They experiment, practise and discover different possibilities before deciding how they might use them in their own work. |
| Create | Children develop ideas and make purposeful artistic choices. They draw on their knowledge of artists, materials and techniques to create individual and increasingly accomplished outcomes. |
| Reflect | Children look again at their work, talk about the choices they have made and consider how their ideas and techniques have developed. |
Explore our primary Art and Design curriculum at St Stephen’s CE Primary School. Click on the image below to discover the artists, key knowledge, vocabulary, materials, techniques and creative experiences children encounter in each year group.
Children encounter a carefully chosen range of artists, designers and craftspeople from different periods, traditions, cultures and places. These studies are connected directly to the artistic knowledge, techniques and ideas within each unit.
Children do more than learn facts about artists. They look closely at their work, discuss what they notice, explore how and why it was made and use this knowledge to inform their own creative decisions.
Our Art and Design curriculum carefully develops both what children know about art and what they can do as artists, enabling them to make increasingly informed, skilful and individual creative choices.
| Artistic Knowledge | Materials, Techniques and Processes |
|---|---|
| Children build connected knowledge of artists, designers, craftspeople, artistic traditions and visual language. They increasingly understand how line, shape, colour, tone, texture, pattern, form, space and composition can communicate ideas. | Children become increasingly confident and precise in drawing, painting, printing, collage, sculpture and other forms of making. They learn how different materials, tools and processes behave and how to select and combine them purposefully. |
Our Art and Design pedagogy follows our own Notice → Explore → Create → Reflect approach.
Children encounter significant art before creating their own. They learn the vocabulary needed to talk precisely about what they see, explore materials and techniques deliberately, practise before committing to final outcomes and make increasingly independent artistic decisions.
Sketchbooks are an important part of this journey. They are places to notice, investigate, experiment, practise, develop ideas and reflect rather than simply collections of finished work.
Explore our Art and Design pedagogy →
Our curriculum resources help teachers secure artistic knowledge while giving children the skills, techniques and confidence to develop their own creative responses.
| Knowledge Organisers → | Art Vocabulary → | Unit Guides → |
|---|---|---|
| Essential artists, artistic knowledge, vocabulary, materials and techniques for each unit. | The language children need to observe, discuss, compare and explain art with increasing precision. | The artistic journey, key knowledge, artist study, materials, techniques and teaching guidance for each unit. |
| Retrieval Roots → | Assessment → | Art and Design Progression → |
| Prior artistic knowledge revisited so children can make connections between artists, techniques and previous learning. | Opportunities to identify what children know, can do and can explain about their artistic learning. | How artistic knowledge, techniques, vocabulary and independence develop from Year 1 to Year 6. |
