Art at Red Hall

Every artist was first an amateur ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is the intent of our Art curriculum?

Our aim is to provide our pupils with creative and rich learning experiences as well as to provide opportunities to inspire curiosity. We view The Arts as opportunities for pupils to be as creative and as imaginative as possible – the sky is the limit! We believe that art is a vital and essential part of children’s education, and like Pablo Picasso we believe “every child is an artist”. Our scheme of work, developed from the National Curriculum, includes aspects of appreciation, art history and experimentation. Our lessons are incorporated across the curriculum, making learning fun, bespoke and accessible by all pupils. For many of our pupil’s at Red Hall, they may never experience visiting other countries or meeting someone of a different culture. A lot of our pupils also do not experience art outside of school! With this in mind, we have a minimal curriculum until the children gain skills in the basic techniques: drawing, painting and sculpture. The curriculum develops children’s understanding of their own and others’ cultural heritages through studying a diverse range of male and female artists and styles throughout history. We focus on an Artist and a technique each term so the children learn skills to combine into a finished project. Some art lessons are discrete and others follow our whole school topics.

How do we implement our Art curriculum?

Art is taught once every term and by the end of each key stage, children will have covered a range of topics including drawing, painting, collage, printing, and sculpture. As there are a lot of skills to teach which means sometimes the topics are alternated in each year group.

What is the impact of our Art curriculum?

Our curriculum enables children to experiment in Art with their ideas, their use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials, processes and evaluations. We understand Art can be difficult and scary for some children with so many possibilities, there isn’t just one right or wrong answer within The Arts – it’s open to interpretation. Within our curriculum a big focus is self-reflection and risk taking which over time builds resilience. There are so many aspects of art and design from drawing to painting to sculpting, that each child can find their individual talents and we can laugh and learn from the pieces that didn’t go so well.

What experiences will the children receive in Art?

At Red Hall Primary School, we want the children to have a say in their learning. We focus on their interests as much as we can, as well providing unique and enriching opportunities. As a pupil at Red Hall, your child will have access to a wide range of experiences. They will partake in termly Art projects focussing on the drawing, painting and 3D elements as well as whole school Art days experiencing other techniques. Partake in real life experiences e.g. observational drawing of objects around them or making products that they would use Some opportunities for museum visits e.g. Bowes Museum. We also have the opportiunity to create artwork for Darlington’s Annual Carnival.

By the end of their time at Red Hall, what will all our children have taken from Art?

Children at Red Hall will have developed a passion for Art as well as an understanding of basic Art techniques where they will know at least on artistic skill they can achieve. They will have developed a wider cultural understanding through our enriched and broad curriculum. Have a sense of pride in their achievements and the presentation of their work. An understanding of a range of skills that are transferrable to other subjects and resilience, to continuously improve and not see this as a failure.

Key Information for Parents & Carers:

Key Websites:

Click download to view our Art vision for Red Hall.