Our vision for Art at Woodlea

At Woodlea, we want all children to leave at the end of KS2 with a confidence to work creatively with the skills to record their imagination and ideas. During KS3, we want children to be able to apply their experience of a range of techniques, materials and a good understanding of how humans use art for self-expression and making sense of their lives. 

‘It seems so obvious, but a lot of people simply don’t understand that, at the beginning and end of all the things that are essential to a civilised world is a creative human being. That the cars that they drive in, and the suits that they’re wearing, these items all started off with work by a creative person. That if it wasn’t for artists and designers, you would have had to walk out without your clothes on.’  Lubaina Himid RA, CBE

It is therefore an important part of every child’s education, or as artist Bob and Roberta Smith would say:

‘Art is your human right’ and ‘All schools should be art schools’

Our intent 

At Woodlea, we aim to create children who are confident in working creatively. From the minute that they join us in year 3 they are encouraged to see the importance of art to humans from its earliest origins. By the time they leave in year 6, children have experienced a range of artistic techniques and materials and have a good understanding of how humans have used art through the ages for self expression and making sense of their lives. We encourage our children to see art making as a process of experimentation and development and recognise that creative thinking can help us in other areas of our lives.
 

How we implement our curriculum

At Woodlea, we explore the three main techniques of painting, printmaking and sculpture. Alongside this we are continuously developing our drawing skills and techniques.

We learn about artists throughout history; from our prehistoric ancestors up to artists living and working today. Through looking at these artists, we aim to learn their techniques and use them to produce our own artworks. The artists that we study are drawn from a wide and diverse range such as: Lubaina Himid, Yinka Shonibare, Andrea Buttner, Bernini, Hans Holbein, Kiki Smith, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Barbara Kruger, David Hockney, Tony Bevan, Albrecht Durer, Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai.

We are also developing links with local artists so that the children can begin to develop their aspirations towards a creative career.

The impact of art in our school

Art has become something that our children love to do and take a great deal of pride in. They can see how their learning in previous years is developed and skills built upon. Our children enjoy the variety of materials and techniques that they use and apply the knowledge that they gained, from looking at the work of other artists, to their own work. Art lessons have inspired some children to explore their interest further at home. For instance: many of our year 6 children have asked their parents to buy them Lino-printing kits after learning the skill at school. 

During the spring term, Year 3 have been learning about the casting process to produce jewellery casts from plaster. First, they looked at examples of bronze/iron age patterns and considered what the patterns might have represented. Then, the children made a bank of shapes and symbols to draw from in their own work. Next, the children experimented making a range of different marks in clay using a range of different tools and techniques. Their understanding of the casting process was developed by casting from a simple patterned/textured clay mould. The children then explored designs on paper for making an iron age necklace, using a range of symbols from iron age art, which they then evaluated and used to decide on their final piece. Finally, they made their clay mould and used this to cast from. During the summer term, Year 3 will be printmaking by creating repeating patterns with Egyptian hieroglyphs. 

During the spring term, Year 4 have been learning about the origins of printmaking in China and Japan through looking at the work of Hokusai and Hiroshige. They evaluated the works of the artists and shared their thoughts, thinking about mark making and composition. Then, the children practiced their mark making techniques before creating a library of different marks made using the 'safe print'. Children noticed that what is left behind on the printing block is what would be printed. Then, the children used photographs of Roman shields to develop designs that they could print. Finally, the children printed their final image. During the summer term, Year 4 will be developing their carving skills by creating Roman busts based on the works of Michaelangelo, Bernini, Auguste Rodin and Edmonia Lewis. 

During the Spring Term, Year 5 have be developed their understanding of colour mixing and perspective drawing to create painted landscape scenes. They began by looking at examples of landscapes painted at different points in history and discussing the effect of composition and colour. The children were encouraged to develop their own opinions, explaining their ideas with reference to evidence in the pieces. Next, they developed their mark making abilities, experimenting with a range of drawing media and one point perspective. The children then worked out their own composition by sketching ideas and thinking about how the viewer's eye moves around the picture. Their final piece was a painting of their own scene of a local Leyland landmark. During the summer term, Year 5 will be developing their understanding of sculpture based on the works of Yinka Shonibare. 

During the spring term, Year 6 have developed their understanding of colour mixing, mixed-media and construction to make a figure inspired by Lubaina Himid's installation 'Naming the Money'. They began by studying examples of Lubaina Himid's figures and discussing their thoughts and reactions. Then, they built upon their Year 5 work of mixing secondary colours and developed their understanding. Next, the children sketched out different costume ideas before selecting and developing their ideas into freestanding cutouts. During the summer term, Year 6 will be developing their casting skills by creating WW2 medals.