Art at Withernsea Junior School
We teach our Art as part of a theme with other subjects such as History, Geography and Design Technology.
Theme we follow are usually linked more to the History and Geography and the art work complements this.
In Year 6 we look at Ancient Greeks and look at pottery designs for example and make our own clay pots.
In Year 5 the Caribbean is a popular theme and includes sunset paintings in watercolour and pastels.
We all have a Creative Journal which is used to develop our ideas, collect ideas, thoughts and designs. These books have a personalised cover and are very much about individual ideas and their development. They are not formally 'marked' but the teacher may ask questions to develop ideas.
We follow the National Curriculum and develop pupil's skills as they progress through school. We encourage them to use a range of materials and processes including painting, collage, printmaking, digital media, textiles and sculpture.
All classes complete some art work every term, however Mrs Harper and Mrs Sutherland form the Arts team to lead this subject in school, also ensure we have the right resources and a consistent approach to teaching and learning.
Every three years we evaluate art as a subject, we observe art lessons being taught by all teachers, look at how the teachers plan the subject, assess the final finished products and we ask the children about their lessons for their thoughts and ideas.
Using all this information we prepare a three year action plan to develop the subject.
Our art plan is available to view.
We have good resources for this subject- with general painting and drawing resources in each classroom. We have specialised fine art boxes for each year group and centralised resources such as textiles and sewing resources. We have a budget each year for 'consumerables' as art is a subject where we need a lot of materials to support teaching and learning.
We try to work alongside artists where possible. In 2008-9 we worked alongside a mosaic artist and produced lots of mosaics including a large display panel outside in our playground.
Our Year 6 pupils also go across to Withernsea High School for some of their art lessons enabling them to use the specialist facilities on offer and start to develop transition links with the High School so they are more confident when they go in Year 7.