At Northside Primary School, we aim to provide an engaging Art and Design curriculum where it inspires and challenges children, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.

We provide a balanced programme for Art and Design where children will have rich opportunities to explore and express ideas through a wide range of artistic media, including drawing, painting, 3D/sculptures, printmaking, digital media and studying key artists.

Art and Design at Northside will encourage children to think critically and develop a rigorous understanding of art and design. They will learn how art and design both reflect and shape history, and contribute to culture and creativity. We follow the National Curriculum objectives to ensure full coverage and appropriate progression of knowledge and skills, which are drawing, painting, 3D/sculpture, printmaking, digital media and artist study.

Children are taught to develop their techniques, including their control and their use of materials, with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.

Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage will:

• Explore and use a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
• Share their creations, explaining the processes they used.
• Engage with artistic experiences that build artistic and cultural awareness, imagination and creativity.

Children in Key Stage 1 will be taught:

• to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products to use drawing, painting and sculpture
• to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination 
• to develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space 
• about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work.

Children in Key Stage 2 will be taught:

• to create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas
• to improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials (for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay)
• about great artists, architects and designers in history.