South Hill Primary School
Building Character, Learning Together
Art
Curriculum
At South Hill, we want to inspire all of our pupils to experiment with art, to see it as an expression of self/mood and to take ownership of their work. Through the use of sketch books, pupils are encouraged to evaluate, experiment and work creatively to ensure they have a freedom of expression in the subject.
In EYFS, pupils are introduced to the building the blocks of art through the key learning area ‘Expressive arts and Design’. In Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, pupil’s skills and knowledge are developed through our golden threads, which progress throughout the school.
These are:
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Drawing
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Painting
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Printing
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3D
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Textiles
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Collage
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Use of IT
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Sketchbooks
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Knowledge
We study a wide variety of artists and learn many artistic techniques.
For example:
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In EYFS, pupils experiment with collage based on the work of Matisse
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In Year 1, pupils study close ups of flowers inspired by Georgia O’Keefe
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In Year 2, pupils print with leaves through learning the Japanese technique of ‘Hapa zome’
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In Year 3, pupils draw with pencil and charcoal in the style of Quentin Blake
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In Year 4, pupils research and recreate the work of Watercolour artist Adrienne Pavelka
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In Year 5, pupils study the history of sculpting to create an Egyptian decorated tool box
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In Year 6, pupils learn to create a World War 2 landscape print in the style of Paul Nash
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Arts Mark Gold and local links
South Hill have been awarded Gold in the ‘Arts Mark’ to reflect ‘…children's understanding of arts and artists from a wider variety of different cultural heritages, so that cultural diversity is being promoted through your arts curriculum…’. We also have a strong link with our local secondary school and a local private school, who run workshops with Upper Key Stage 2 pupils every year to extend pupil’s skill development.
Whole School Art Gallery
We run an annual art week, where as a school we work with one topic or theme (for example ‘Patterns in Nature’). We explore different skills and styles and produce a final piece of art. This art work is then displayed in a whole school art gallery to which parents are invited to view with their children. Parents can purchase their children’s work, treating the event as a true art gallery.
Art competitions
We encourage children from EYFS up to Year 6 to take part in art competitions, run and judged both in house and by external companies. For example, we have entered the ‘Dacorum Young Artist’ competition and the ‘CPRE Art’ competition. As a school, we celebrate all who enter, by displaying all entries in assembly and awarding certificates and house points.
