Art
Art
Art at Ickworth Park Primary School
At Ickworth Park Primary School, our Art curriculum is designed to be ambitious, engaging and accessible for all pupils, building progressively on knowledge and skills from the Early Years to Year 6.
Our Intent
At Ickworth Park Primary School, our Art curriculum is designed to develop pupils’ creativity, confidence, curiosity and artistic skills, enabling them to express their ideas while exploring a wide range of materials, techniques and artists.
We aim to build knowledge of critical thinking, an understanding of art history and a range of cultures and periods, progressive skills from EYFS to Year 6 and evaluating their own artwork.
Our Approach
We use Access Art as a foundation for our Art curriculum, showing clear progression in knowledge and skills.
Teachers adapt this to ensure learning reflects the needs, interests and context of our pupils at Ickworth Park. Pupils build secure knowledge, skills and understanding in art through carefully sequenced curriculum that develops creativity, technical proficiency and critical thinking. They experiment with a range of media, learn about significant artists and artistic movements and create original work inspired by their observations, experiences and imagination.
Learning focuses on:
- Creating and making – developing practical skills by drawing, painting, printing, sculpting and working with a range of materials and techniques.
- Exploring and evaluating – experimenting with ideas, reflecting on their own work and evaluating how they can improve, while using artistic vocabulary.
- Knowledge and inspiration – learning about significant artists, artists and designers from different cultures and periods and understanding how art reflects and shapes the world.
Progression
Learning in Art begins in the Early Years, where children develop their creativity, imagination and confidence through a rich range of artistic experiences. They are encouraged to explore, experiment and express their ideas using a variety of materials, tools and techniques. Through painting, drawing, printing, collage, sculpture and transient art. Children build the fine motor skills needed for future learning while developing their ability to communicate thoughts, feelings and ideas.
As pupils move through the school:
- In Key Stage 1, pupils develop and deepen their knowledge, skills and understanding from EYFS with using different resources and materials. They develop their observational skills, experiment with colour, pattern, texture, line and shape. They begin to use artistic vocabulary to describe and discuss their work. Their knowledge of different artists widens, helping them to understand different styles, cultures and periods.
- In Key Stage 2, pupils build on the foundations from KS1, developing greater independence, technical skill and creativity. They refine their skills and build on this each year. Pupils learn to experiment with different approaches and apply artistic skills to create original and imaginative outcomes. Pupils deepen their understanding of the work of significant artists from a range of cultures, periods and traditions. They learn to analyse and evaluate artwork using artistic vocabulary, reflecting on their own work and suggesting ways to improve it.
By Year 6, pupils are able to explore, develop and communicate their ideas through a range of media and techniques. They demonstrate increasing control and precision in all areas of art. Pupils can evaluate and refine their work and have a secure knowledge of significant artists from different cultures and historical periods.
Inclusion
All pupils are supported to access the Art curriculum.
This includes:
- Scaffolding, modelling and flexible teaching approaches.
- Clear visual examples, step-by-step instructions and demonstrations.
- Resources and equipment are adapted where appropriate, and tasks differentiated to ensure all pupils can participate.
- Vocabulary to be discussed and displayed during the demonstration to give it meaning.
-We ensure all pupils can participate fully alongside their peers.
What Makes Art Special at Ickworth Park
At Ickworth Park, we enhance our Art curriculum through:
The use of our local area and Ickworth Estate using the environment for observational art, the house for historical art links and the gallery space to display our art, as we did in 2025.
Opportunities for real-life experiences and enrichment from visiting artists working with us during art weeks, cross curricular links to other subjects and the opportunity to send pieces of art to the Royal Academy’s Young Artists’ Summer Show.
At Ickworth Park, our pupils experience a rich, engaging, creative curriculum, which enables every child to express their ideas creatively and develop a lifelong appreciation of art and design.
Impact
Pupils develop:
- Creativity and confidence – pupils develop the confidence to express their own ideas, imagination and individuality through a range of artistic experiences.
- Knowledge and skills – pupils build strong artistic knowledge and progressively master a wide range of techniques, enabling them to create a high-quality artwork.
- Reflection and appreciation – pupils learn to evaluate and improve their own work, appreciate the work of artists from different cultures and periods and develop a lifelong enjoyment of art.
They leave Ickworth Park as creative, confident and curious artists feeling inspired to continue their art learning.