At Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School & Little Acorns Nursery we ensure pupils are equipped to successfully think, work and communicate like an artist. We are ambitious, our art curriculum focusses on excellence in this subject through a myriad of media and incredible artists.

We want pupils to see our school as their own art gallery. We have a range of exciting learning resources and active play-based learning equipment. This, paired with high quality teaching and creativity, allows our pupils to fully explore their own creativity. 

We strive to provide art opportunities within some other subjects where appropriate to challenge and inspire children of all abilities. Artwork is displayed and changed frequently in classrooms and around the school and kept in sketchbooks to infuse a sense of achievement and pride in their artwork. We offer a Read & Make, and Art Club after school throughout the year.

Our children become creative artists by making sure they meet the National Curriculum expectations to:

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
• become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
• evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
• know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

Working Artistically

• Shape: Shape is a flat (2D) area surrounded by an outline or edge.
• Line: Lines are used to show movement and mood.
• Colour: Colour is used to convey atmosphere and mood.
• Value: Value is the intensity of colour and depends on the amount of white added.
• Form: Artists use form when they create sculptures. These are 3D shapes.
• Texture: Texture is the look and feel of a surface.
• Space: Space in artwork makes a flat image look like it has form.

Teaching in Early Years, expressive arts are used to develop a child's imagination, creativity and their ability to use media and materials and is one of the seven areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage. We provide a huge array of learning opportunities that not only tie in with their current topic but also meet progression and expectations from the EYFS framework. Pupils will have opportunities for expressive arts during continuous provision and in planned focus activities with teachers and teaching assistants. 

Using the CUSP curriculum, children in Key Stage 1 will use a range of materials creatively to design and make products, use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination.

They will begin to develop a wide range of art and design techniques using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space which are woven into our different blocks of study.

They will learn about the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers including Albrecht Drurer, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and many more. 

In Key Stage 2 children will create sketch books to record their observations and use them to review and revisit ideas. They will connect previous learning and improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials [for example, pencil, charcoal, paint, clay]. Artists they will discover will include Giorgio Morandi, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo and Pablo Picasso.