Art and Design Intent Statement Thirsk Community Primary School
At Thirsk Community Primary School, our Art and Design curriculum is built on our values of ambition, compassion, and inclusion. Using the Kapow Primary scheme, our intent is to inspire every child to explore and express their creativity with confidence and purpose. We believe that art is for everyone, and our inclusive approach ensures that all children, regardless of background or ability, feel empowered to experiment, invent, and reflect through art.
Vocabulary and oracy are central to our approach in Art and Design. We prioritise the development of subject-specific language and structured talk, enabling pupils to articulate their ideas, critique works of art, and reflect on their creative processes with clarity and confidence. This focus supports inclusive participation and nurtures every child’s ambition to be heard and understood.
Our teaching is informed by Visible Learning strategies, helping pupils to organise their thinking, reduce cognitive overload, and develop a clear understanding of both substantive concepts (such as colour, texture, and form) and disciplinary knowledge (such as evaluating, experimenting, and observing). We support children in developing metacognitive awareness, enabling them to make informed decisions about their work and to talk meaningfully about their progress.
High-quality reading provision underpins our entire curriculum. In Art and Design, we use reading to expose children to diverse artistic voices, critical texts, and visual literacy. This ensures our pupils not only create, but also interpret and connect with the world of art in a thoughtful and reflective way. We are also committed to fostering a strong sense of place; through carefully curated learning opportunities, we promote purposeful learning that links creativity to the world around them.
At Thirsk Community Primary School, our Art and Design curriculum aims to nurture compassionate thinkers, ambitious creators, and inclusive participants—equipping our pupils with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to express themselves and engage with the world through art.
Art and Design Implementation Statement Thirsk Community Primary School
At Thirsk Community Primary School, we implement our Art and Design curriculum through the Kapow Primary scheme of work, carefully adapted to reflect our values of ambition, compassion, and inclusion.
Our implementation is driven by five interwoven strands:
- Generating ideas
- Using sketchbooks
- Making skills, including the formal elements (line, shape, tone, texture, pattern, colour)
- Knowledge of artists
- Evaluating and analysing
These strands underpin every unit and are sequenced in a spiral curriculum model that promotes progression and revisiting of knowledge, allowing pupils to deepen their understanding over time. We have subdivided these into substantive knowledge (know) (drawing, painting and mixed media, sculpture and 3d) and disciplinary knowledge (do) (generating ideas, using sketch books, evaluating and analysing and making skills). We have subdivided the “making skills” strand into colour, form, shape, line, pattern, texture and tone. These substantive and disciplinary strands are discussed with pupils to enable them to make links to prior and future learning.
Lessons are practical, purposeful, and inclusive, with carefully planned differentiation to ensure every child—regardless of starting point—can succeed and flourish.We place a high priority on vocabulary and oracy, as a tool to achieve this – recognising that language is a gateway to understanding and participation. Pupils are taught to use technical vocabulary accurately and confidently discuss their own work, that of others, and the broader cultural and historical contexts of art. Through structured talk, shared reflection, and rich questioning, we ensure ambitious articulation is accessible to all.
To support compassionate and inclusive practice, pupils are taught to value diverse perspectives, respect different styles and approaches, and explore art from many cultures and time periods. Creative expression is seen as a personal journey, with outcomes that are unique to each pupil, supported by scaffolded instruction and opportunities for independent choice-making.
We integrate Visible Learning techniques to support metacognition, helping pupils to organise their ideas, reduce cognitive overload, . We use knowledge organisers, visual scaffolds, and modelling to support retention and independent application of key concepts.
High-quality reading opportunities are embedded throughout our Art and Design curriculum. Pupils engage with texts about artists, techniques, and art history, and develop visual literacy as they interpret and evaluate artworks. This reinforces our commitment to reading across the curriculum and helps every child become a confident, reflective, and literate learner.
Teachers are supported through CPD videos and resources to develop their subject knowledge and pedagogy. This ensures that the delivery of Art is ambitious, consistent, and inclusive, regardless of teacher confidence or experience. Subject leaders have regular release time to monitor teaching quality and provide tailored CPD.
Through this structured yet flexible implementation, we aim to ensure all children at Thirsk Community Primary School grow as creative thinkers, confident communicators, and expressive individuals—ready to shape and respond to the world around them through art.
Art and Design Impact Statement Thirsk Community Primary School
At Thirsk Community Primary School, the impact of our Art and Design curriculum is measured not only in the quality of pupils’ creative outcomes, but also in the growth of their confidence, voice, and ability to think critically and reflectively. Rooted in our values of ambition, compassion, and inclusion, the curriculum equips all children with the artistic skills, knowledge, and personal insight to express themselves with creativity and purpose.
Pupils are encouraged to evaluate, dialogue, and make decisions about their work throughout every unit. Through structured oracy opportunities, children learn to use subject-specific vocabulary to articulate their creative processes and reflect on their progress. This focus on talk and vocabulary empowers every learner to participate, regardless of ability or background, supporting inclusive classroom discussion and ensuring that children from all starting points can access and contribute to the learning.
The visible learning strategies embedded in our teaching help pupils to organise their thinking, recognise key concepts, and manage their cognitive load.
These strategies also provide regular formative and summative assessments allow teachers to monitor progression across all year groups. Teachers use both in-lesson feedback and clear criteria linked to learning objectives to assess understanding. Our inclusive assessment approach ensures that all pupils are recognised for their progress, including those working at greater depth and those needing additional support.
By the end of Key Stage 2, our pupils:
- Produce creative work that reflects their own ideas, experiences, and cultural identity.
- Are proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture, and other artistic techniques, confidently applying them in original ways.
- Evaluate and analyse both their own work and that of others using rich, subject-specific vocabulary.
- Demonstrate ambition through their creative risk-taking and desire to improve.
- Show compassion through their respect for diverse artistic perspectives and peer feedback.
- Celebrate and connect with the historical, local, and cultural development of art, particularly within our North Yorkshire context.
- Meet or exceed the National Curriculum expectations for Art and Design, prepared to thrive at Key Stage 3 and beyond.
At Thirsk Community Primary School, our inclusive and aspirational approach ensures every child leaves with a deep appreciation of art, a confident artistic voice, and a toolkit of creative and cognitive skills to carry forward in life