Art & Design
Subject Leader: Elle Broster and Martine Waterhouse
Link Governor: Michael Burke (Arts)
Beaver Road Art Vision
Children are encouraged to be highly independent in their art making and great value is placed on unique and original ideas.
Fine motor skills are developed through minimal scaffolding.
Art plays a key role in the development of the child’s visual literacy.
Curriculum design provides all children with the opportunities to make rapid and sustained progress from their starting points, builds self-confidence and empowers self-expression.
Children are encouraged to appreciate their own and each other’s art and to see that everyone is an artist.
Key Art documents are available for download below:
Beaver Road Art Curriculum
Art taught in Nursery and Reception classes follows the Early Years Framework for learning and development in Expressive Arts and Design. Children are given the opportunity to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities for sharing thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art.
Children in KS1 and KS2 are introduced to each of the key areas of Art and Design, ensuring coverage of the National Curriculum. They are introduced to a wide range of mediums, materials and techniques and learn the skills of painting, drawing, printing, textiles, digital art, and 3D construction throughout their time at Beaver Road.
Children learn about great artists, historical and contemporary, as they move through the school. They learn how to use artists as inspiration for their own artwork.
Trips and visiting art experts enhance the children’s learning experiences.
Children take great pleasure and pride in their artwork and their art is celebrated through displays throughout the school, local public places and in galleries and exhibitions, such as Didsbury Arts Festival and the Parsonage Spring Open Exhibition. The children’s art is also celebrated through social media on Instagram and Twitter.
Enrichment- Art Club
We have Art Clubs that run year long at both of our sites. Years 1 to 6 can learn new skills, explore a variety of materials and medias and express their creativity afterschool.
ARTIST VISIT - Emily from Lobster House Studios
We were incredibly lucky to be able to arrange a visit from a well known and local mural artist! Emily, who is the founder of Lobster House Studios, came in to Beaver Road to talk to the children about the artwork she has painted on many Didsbury shop windows and walls, such as Anchors fish and chip shop and Corner and Bloom Cafe in Didsbury village. The children had the opportunity to ask questions and get a real insight into the reality of working as an artist. They also got to see Emily creating her artwork outside our art room where she created an amazing bespoke mural for our school which contains the quote, "Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time". The mural also highlights the main formal elements of art which are line, tone, composition, texture, colour, form and shape. This text serves as a great reminder to the children when they are talking about their own and others artwork. Whilst Emily worked on her mural, the children created their own designs for a window mural, inspired by her artwork. The children loved the experience of meeting Emily and came away inspired and in awe of her artwork!