Visual Art Intent Statement

In the Visual Arts department at Abbey Park School, our aim is to provide an opportunity for all students to explore their creativity. We encourage students to understand the intentions of artwork, to face technical challenges with resilience, and to think freely. In this way, students develop artistic skills that prepare them for their future.

Our department provides high quality lessons where we encourage discussion, critique and debate about students’ own work and about the work of artists and designers. This embeds and extends our students’ knowledge of artistic concepts and principles along with the appropriate language for discussing works of art. When teaching these artistic concepts, students are expected to think, respond and create.

We operate a spiralled five-year curriculum, which is described in our curriculum knowledge maps. As a department, we outline the knowledge our students need and always build on previous knowledge and skills. We do this by scaffolding our curriculum in such a way that students continually incorporate a deeper understanding of prior learning. Student progress is documented through sketchbooks and journals along with PLCs (personal learning checklists) for key concepts and ideas.

One of the integral parts of our five-year curriculum is to provide students with the means to engage with and understand the world around them. To do this, we embed in our curriculum an exploration into the work of artists and designers from a vast spectrum of backgrounds, identities, ethnicities and beliefs. Cultural awareness is developed through creating, investigating, making and doing.

In KS3, our art classes are taught in mixed ability groups, which allows us to give all students the required support throughout the five-year curriculum. In KS4, we teach Fine Art and Photography GCSE. Students explore their own themes and make connections to social development in personal ways. This journey gives our students a voice with which to express their thoughts on, feelings about, and responses to the world around them.

Students will have sufficient time and opportunity to develop their proficiency and confidence with the techniques and media we use over the course of their studies. At the heart of our curriculum design is increasing levels of challenge, risk taking and unpredictable outcomes. Overcoming these challenges requires a deep level of understanding and the ability to think creatively.

KS3 and KS4 Visual Art Curriculum Maps

Click below in 'Related Documents' to view curriculum maps.