Progression

The Ofsted research review series: Art and design, states that ‘pupils make progress in the art curriculum when they build practical, theoretical and disciplinary knowledge and learn the connections between them.’ The following diagram aims to show how the scheme, and the strands within it, achieve this.

EYFS

Talk about their ideas and explore different ways to record them using a range of media.

Experiment in an exploratory way.

Use a range of drawing materials, art application techniques, mixed-media scraps and modelling materials to create child-led art with no set outcome.

Cut, thread, join and manipulate materials safely, focussing on process over outcome.

Begin to develop observational skills (for example, by using mirrors to include the main features of faces).

Enjoy looking at and talking about art.

Recognise that artists create varying types of art and use lots of different types of materials.

Recognise that artists can be inspired by many things.

Talk about their artwork, stating what they feel they did well.

Say if they like an artwork or not and begin to form opinions by explaining why.

KS1

Explore their own ideas using a range of media.

Generate ideas from a range of stimuli, using research and evaluation of techniques to develop their ideas and plan more purposefully for an outcome.

Use sketchbooks to explore ideas.

Experiment in sketchbooks, using drawing to record ideas.

Use sketchbooks to help make decisions about what to try out next.

Develop increasing control when using a wide range of tools to draw, paint and create crafts and sculptures.

Explore and analyse a wider variety of ways to join and fix materials in place.

Make choices about which materials and techniques to use to create an effect.

Use hands and tools with confidence when cutting, shaping and joining paper, card and malleable materials.

Develop observational skills to look closely and aim to reflect some of the formal elements of art (colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space) in their work.

Describe similarities and differences between practices in Art and design, eg between painting and sculpture, and link these to their own work.

Understand how artists choose materials based on their properties in order to achieve certain effects.

Talk about art they have seen using some appropriate subject vocabulary.

Create work from a brief, understanding that artists are sometimes commissioned to create art.

Create and critique both figurative and abstract art, recognising some of the techniques used.

Apply their own understanding of art materials learnt from artist work to begin purposefully choosing materials for a specific effect.

Describe and compare features of their own and others’ artwork.

Evaluate art with an understanding of how art can be varied and made in different ways and by different people.

Explain their ideas and opinions about their own and others’ artwork, beginning to recognise the stories and messages within and showing an understanding of why they may have made it.

Begin to talk about how they could improve their own work. Talk about how art is made.

LKS2

Generate ideas from a range of stimuli, using research and evaluation of techniques to develop their ideas and plan more purposefully for an outcome.

Communicate with others using simple words and short phrases covered in the units.

Use sketchbooks purposefully to improve understanding, develop ideas and plan for an outcome.

Demonstrate increased skill and control when drawing and painting to depict forms, such as showing an awareness of proportion and being able to create 3D effects.

Use growing knowledge of different materials, combining media for effect. Use hands and tools along with increasingly complex techniques to shape and join materials, such as carving and modelling wire.

Apply observational skills, showing a greater awareness of composition and demonstrating the beginnings of an individual style.

Develop direct observation, for example by using tonal shading and starting to apply an understanding of shape to communicate form and proportion.

Discuss how artists produced art in the past and understand the influence and impact of their methods and styles on art today, using their own experiences and historical evidence.

Understand the limitations of tools and materials and be able to experiment within more than one medium and with tools to create textural effects.

Work as a professional designer does, by collating ideas to generate a theme.

Consider how to display art work, understanding how artists consider their viewer and the impact on them.

Use subject vocabulary confidently to describe and compare creative works. Understand how artists use art to convey messages through the choices they make.

Confidently explain their ideas and opinions about their own and others’ artwork, with an understanding of the breadth of what art can be and that there are many ways to make art.

Discuss and begin to interpret meaning and purpose of artwork, understanding how artists can use art to communicate.

Begin to carry out a problem-solving process and make changes to improve their work. Use more complex vocabulary when discussing their own and others’ art.

Discuss art considering how it can affect the lives of the viewers or users of the piece.

Evaluate their work more regularly and independently during the planning and making process.

UKS2

Develop ideas more independently from their own research.

Explore and record their plans, ideas and evaluations to develop their ideas towards an outcome.

Draw upon their experience of creative work and their research to develop their own starting points for creative outcomes.

Using a systematic and independent approach, research, test and develop ideas and plans using sketchbooks.

Work with a range of media with control in different ways to achieve different effects, including experimenting with the techniques used by other artists.

Combine a wider range of media, e.g. photography and digital art effects.

Create expressively in their own personal style and in response to their choice of stimulus, showing the ability to develop artwork independently.

Combine materials and techniques appropriately to fit with ideas. Work in a sustained way over several sessions to complete a piece, including working collaboratively on a larger scale and incorporating the formal elements of art.

Research and discuss the ideas and approaches of artists across a variety of disciplines, being able to describe how the cultural and historical context may have influenced their creative work.

Discuss how artists create work with the intent to create an impact on the viewer.

Consider what choices can be made in their own work to impact their viewer.

Describe, interpret and evaluate the work, ideas and processes used by artists across a variety of disciplines, being able to describe how the cultural and historical context may have influenced their creative work.

Recognise how artists use materials to respond to feelings and memory and choose materials, imagery, shape and form to create personal pieces.

Understand how art forms such as photography and sculpture continually develop over time as artists seek to break new boundaries.

Discuss the processes used by themselves and by other artists, and describe the particular outcome achieved.

Consider how effectively pieces of art express emotion and encourage the viewer to question their own ideas

Explain how art can be created to cause reaction and impact and be able to consider why an artist chooses to use art in this way.

Independently use their knowledge of tools, materials and processes to try alternative solutions and make improvements to their work which takes account of context and intention.