Our vision for Art is: 

• For all children to learn and embed skills through the delivery of an inclusive, rich, broad and balanced curriculum. 

• For all children to be exposed to a diverse range of art and artists and for them to be able to express their feelings and own opinions about the creative work they explore, whilst learning cultural capital. 

• For children in the early years to understand their world by being able to choose and explore different artistic techniques which enhance their personal creativity and imagination.  

• For children to have enriching opportunities ranging from gallery visits, art clubs, art competitions and workshops. 

To achieve this, in line with the National Curriculum, we have developed a progressive art and design curriculum for the whole school which supports children in making cross-curricular links, learn about a diverse range of artists and offers opportunities for them to embed the skills they are learning. 

Art at South Camberley is taught by our specialist art teacher who works across all three sites to provide consistency in the progression of skills. When planning and adapting the curriculum, we support all learners to achieve their best in art and ensure that lessons are adapted to meet individual needs, by paying close attention to some of the sensory challenges that can occur through art, for example. 

We teach a knowledge-rich art curriculum from Early Years to Year 6 where each unit of work offers children the opportunity to study one of a diverse range of artists. By the time children leave South Camberley, they will have explored the art of many different artists and their individual styles. The inspiration they draw from these artists offers the opportunity for our pupils to create pieces of art which feature characteristics of the artist’s style, whilst giving them freedom of expression and imagination.  Alongside traditional art techniques, including sculpture, drawing and painting, the art we create includes opportunities for children to explore print making, activism art and mixed media approaches. 

We further enrich our art curriculum by making connections between children’s experiences and the art they create. For example, where pupils visit an aquarium, they produce work related to the sea, pupils who learn about the Egyptians, produce art inspired by contemporary Egyptian artist, Reda Abdel Rahman and where children learn about Britain at war, they make links to relevant artists, such as Henry Moore and Franz Marc.  

We strive to support our pupils’ cultural experiences by running our own art club on every site, inviting professional artists to undertake workshops with the children and we have planned a visit to The Watts Gallery so that they can further experience the sense of awe and wonder that being immersed in art offers. 

Art Interventions have been put in place for some children with social and emotional mental health needs. With this, they’re given allocated time where they have an opportunity to express themselves through arts and craft activities. The artwork they produce may be guided to link in with the management of their emotions and/or a way of children simply releasing whatever they feel through the act of the artistic technique itself. Children will hopefully gain another tool to help express themselves creatively and gain artistic confidence.

Here at South Camberley, we are passionate about children’s lives being enriched with memorable experiences and in order to make these possible, we will be holding fundraising events throughout the year to help support and action these trips and activities. 

We share exciting displays of our children’s passion for art and design across our three campuses.  Once a year, we hold an art gallery so that the children can showcase their skills and imagination in a framed exhibition event. We also award our pupils endeavour in Art and Design with art certificates and Outstanding Art Awards so that we can celebrate together as a school and with our pupils’ families. 

Our diverse and enriching curriculum ensures that children leaving South Camberley and moving to secondary school are equipped with culture, diverse and positive outlooks, artistic techniques, cultural capital and a reflective mind for art. As Picasso once said, ‘every child is an artist’ and if children are taught this from an early age, they will grow up with the confidence to use art as form of expression. Thus, by the end of Year 6, learners will have had memorable experiences, developed more varied ways to express themselves and know how to apply the skills they have learnt on their journey throughout primary school.