Intent of ART curriculum

Roebuck Academy’s Art curriculum is ambitious and is designed to give all learners, particularly the most disadvantaged and those with special educational needs/and or disabilities (SEND) or high needs, the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. We are passionate in providing children with the tools and recourse they need to create high quality artwork. Art is highly celebrated at Roebuck as we know the importance of Art to the children at Roebuck. We have ambitious subject leader partnerships with secondary schools to support transitions and pupils with SEND tracked in the Art.

Roebuck Academy’s curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment. Through our committed work with Arts mark and the Royal Opera House there have been opportunities to specialise e.g Year 6 project on Romeo and Juliet,  an arts week to promote drawing skills, work with Knebworth House on the Watch Tower Project.

 Implementation of Art curriculum

At Roebuck, we feel it is of paramount to provide children with a fantastic and engaging Art Curriculum. Our children thrive off being creative which is what we want to develop and celebrate. At Roebuck, we follow the Kapow Scheme of Work which develops children's Art skills and shows clear progression through each Year group. They provide engaging content as well as teachers passing on the enthusiasm as they teach. We have a variety of resources at Roebuck which will lend children to provide high quality art work. At Roebuck, we Roebuck Academy’s teachers have a good knowledge of the subjects they teach. Leaders provide effective support for those teaching outside their main areas of expertise.

Leaders carry out learning walks and plan CPD based on the needs of the staff and pupils. Leaders take time to research and identify the best schemes to support teacher knowledge. External advice is sought through, Royal Opera House and Specialist teachers at local secondary schools we have formed partnerships with. Leaders give staff updates after attending subject leader clusters once a term. Advice from newsletters received from Arts council and Royal Opera House are also shared. New scheme has improved all staff knowledge on vocabulary, techniques, art skills, artists and crafts people.

At Roebuck, we also use Art Builders which is an arts-in-education program led by Animate Arts Company. Arts Council England have funded this program so that they could support primary school teachers and pupils during lockdown. Animate Arts had commissioned six professional artists to make six Art Builders Toolkits for Key Stages 1 and 2 pupils. The toolkits are digital resources that can be used by teachers in the classroom, or parents for home learning. Work was sent from Roebuck from Years 1 and 5 to be hopefully included in a film. The toolkits have been saved so can be accessed by staff in September as not all classes participated in Summer term. Information was sent home so parents were able to access.

Art packs

Roebuck Academy has been working with schools in our area and the Royal Opera House school engagement officer to create Art Packs for some of our children to receive. We have been fortunate that ACE Arts Drop, funded ‘Lets Create’ to create packs for local children in Stevenage schools. We secured 101 packs which were collected by Ms Young and Mr Mari. The photos and Roebuck Academy’s involvement was shared in a newsletter on Royal Opera House Bridge Face book and twitter. An article is also being written for Art Award.

Impact of art curriculum

Learners develop detailed knowledge and skills across the curriculum and, as a result achieve well. They also develop a passion for Art and an engaging and immersive curriculum. Early years-exploring different medias and using the outdoor learning environment was filmed by the Royal Opera House as  an example of excellent practice in developing knowledge and skills in the arts.

Learners are ready for the next stage or education, employment or training. Where relevant, they gain qualifications that allow them to go on to destinations that meet their interests, aspirations and the intention of their course of study. Key stage two are invited to take part in Arts award run by two trained moderators at school. This course is delivered through a weekly club session over a year and results in a qualification from Trinity College. Past pupils have continued learning about the arts in further education and some have careers in dance teaching, music and arts such as fashion and design. We invite pupils to return to school to share experiences in our dream catcher assemblies.

Through CPD, the new scheme,  passion of  head teacher and key staff members in art monitoring, has shown art has a higher profile in the school. Art exhibitions and drawing competitions have supported this raised profile with parents. There is an increase in consistency in teaching. We have a passion for Art and we will always teach this at a high standard at Roebuck.