At Thames View, Art and Design helps pupils explore creativity, identity, culture and the world around them. Pupils learn to use a range of materials, techniques and processes including drawing, painting, collage, textiles, printing, sculpture and clay. Through Art and Design, children develop confidence, imagination, observation and the ability to express ideas visually.
Our Art and Design curriculum follows the National Curriculum and is shaped around the needs, context and experiences of pupils at Thames View.
How Art and Design develops Global Citizens
Art and Design helps pupils understand that creativity is a powerful way to express identity, culture, beliefs, ideas and responsibility. Pupils explore artists, craftspeople, designers and traditions from different times and places, helping them appreciate diversity and understand how art can communicate meaning. They also learn how art can respond to important issues, including sustainability, community and care for the environment.
Our Art and Design Narrative Threads
Our Art and Design curriculum is organised around three narrative threads. These help pupils revisit important artistic ideas over time, moving from personal expression and familiar experiences to a wider understanding of culture, heritage, creativity and responsibility.
Thread 1: Identity and Belonging
Pupils learn that art can reflect who they are and how they relate to others. They begin by exploring family drawings, self-portraits and familiar people, before developing their ability to observe, sketch, paint and sculpt with increasing control. This thread helps pupils use art to express personal identity, emotions, relationships and belonging.
Thread 2: Heritage and Diversity
Pupils learn that art is shaped by culture, tradition, belief and history. They explore artists, styles and creative traditions from different times and places, including celebration paintings, seascapes, Celtic patterns, cave paintings, Tudor portraits, William Morris, Egyptian death masks, Greek pottery, trench artists and Maya-inspired sculpture. This helps pupils appreciate the richness of human creativity and understand that art can tell the stories of different communities and societies.
Thread 3: Connection and Responsibility
Pupils learn that art can help us understand our connection to the world and our responsibility towards it. They use natural and recycled materials, explore environmental themes such as water, rainforests and plastic pollution, and consider how creativity can raise awareness or respond to global issues. This thread helps pupils see art as a way to communicate care, challenge thinking and inspire positive change.
How we teach Art and Design
In Art and Design, pupils revisit prior learning before being introduced to new knowledge, techniques and vocabulary. They explore the work of artists, designers and craftspeople, learn how to use different materials and practise specific skills before creating their own outcomes.
Pupils are taught to think like artists by observing carefully, experimenting, refining ideas, making creative choices and evaluating their work. Sketching, planning and drafting are used across the curriculum to help pupils develop ideas before producing final pieces.
Vocabulary and subject talk
Vocabulary is taught explicitly in every unit. Pupils learn and revisit important vocabulary such as line, shape, colour, texture, tone, pattern, sketch, collage, sculpture, printing, textiles, clay, mixed media, evaluate and refine. This helps them talk about their own work, respond to the work of artists and explain the choices they have made.
Teachers model high-quality artistic talk and provide sentence stems where needed so that all pupils can discuss ideas, techniques and outcomes with confidence.
Inclusion and Removing Barriers
Pupils may have different levels of confidence, fine motor control, vocabulary or experience of galleries, artists and creative materials. We use modelling, visual examples, step-by-step teaching, sketchbooks, practical exploration and opportunities to practise techniques so that all pupils can develop confidence and creativity.
Teachers also use clear explanations, explicit vocabulary teaching, adapted tools, visual support and practical resources so that all pupils, including pupils with SEND, can access the same ambitious Art and Design curriculum.
Progression in Art and Design
Our Art and Design progression map shows how pupils build knowledge, vocabulary, artistic skills and creative confidence from Nursery to Year 6. This will be added to the page once finalised.
Useful Websites
Tate Kids
National Gallery
The British Museum
Access Art
BBC Bitesize Art and Design
DK Find Out Art