🎨Art at Ryton-on-Dunsmore

At Ryton‑on‑Dunsmore CE Academy, we follow the Primary Knowledge Curriculum (PKC) for Art. The PKC is a knowledge‑rich curriculum in which content is clearly specified, carefully sequenced and taught to be remembered. In Art, knowledge includes not only familiarity with artists, designers, architects and their work, but also a deep understanding of the artistic concepts that underpin their practice. Pupils learn how different types and styles of art relate to one another within a historical context, and how this understanding informs their own use of materials and development of skills.

The curriculum is designed to help children make meaningful connections between the work of artists, architects and designers - studied critically - and their own creative outcomes. This cyclical process of studying, creating, evaluating and reflecting enables pupils to become increasingly informed about the discipline of art while simultaneously developing a genuine love for the subject. Opportunities for self‑expression and individual response are woven throughout the curriculum, allowing children to discover who they are as artists.

Curriculum Structure
Units of work focus on both artistic concepts and types of art:

• Concepts in art include the elements of art: line, shape, colour, tone, form, space, visual texture and pattern. Pupils learn how artists combine these elements to produce work in different styles, such as realistic or abstract art.
• Types of art include different media (e.g., sculpture, architecture, painting), different subject matter (e.g., portraits, landscapes, history painting) and different artistic movements, historical periods or cultural traditions (e.g., Impressionism, Anglo‑Saxon art, Chinese painting).

The curriculum provides clear progression in both skills and knowledge. Skills are developed across painting, drawing, 3D form, collage, textiles, printmaking, photography and mixed media, ensuring pupils experience a diverse range of materials and techniques. Knowledge of artistic concepts and types of art also progresses over time - for example, pupils study History of Painting in Year 1/2, revisit  and return to Style in Art again in Year 5/6 with greater depth and sophistication.