Art Leader

Miss B Checkley

Art and design has a valuable role within Birchwood Junior School. It is a subject that allows children to explore and be creative. We believe that art plays a valuable part in children’s education. It is not just solely therapeutic, a hobby or within a ‘topic lesson’. Whilst we want it to be enjoyable for all children, we want the children to view art as a subject in its own right. The children will learn skills in which they can then apply their understanding, feelings and ideas in many ways that can be used to enrich and extend the teaching of other subjects, not just in written form. As well as study four disciplines; drawing, painting, sculpture and craft/design.

The National Curriculum ensures all pupils:

· 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. 

Pupils should be 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. Pupils should 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.