Seeing, thinking and communicating through art

Art enables children to observe the world carefully, communicate ideas and express responses that cannot always be captured through words alone. It introduces them to different ways of seeing, making and thinking, while developing patience, imagination, technical control and independence.

At Waterloo, we want every child to see themselves as someone who can engage with, understand and create art.

Our curriculum is designed to develop:

• curiosity about art, craft, design and architecture;
• confidence in exploring ideas and making creative choices;
• increasingly controlled drawing, painting, printing, collage and sculpture;
• knowledge of colour, line, shape, form, pattern, texture, tone and space;
• purposeful use of tools, materials and techniques;
• observational skills and attention to detail;
• effective use of sketchbooks;
• knowledge of significant artists, craftspeople, architects and artistic traditions;
• the vocabulary needed to discuss and evaluate art;
• perseverance when creating, reviewing and refining work;
• appreciation of art from different periods, places, cultures and communities;
• understanding of Liverpool and the surrounding area as a place of art, architecture and creativity.

Children are taught that artistic expression is personal, but becoming more accomplished requires knowledge, practice, careful observation and thoughtful decision-making.

Our curriculum approach

In Nursery and Reception, art is taught through Expressive Arts and Design within the United Learning Early Years Curriculum. Children explore drawing, painting, colour, texture, printing, collage, modelling and construction through explicit teaching, purposeful provision and independent exploration.

From Year 1 to Year 6, Waterloo follows its own carefully sequenced art curriculum. Children complete three focused units during each academic year. These units combine the study of artists, architects, artistic traditions and the local environment with progressive teaching of practical techniques.

In our specialist provision, art is taught through carefully selected and adapted Cornerstones projects. These projects provide meaningful contexts for exploring materials, developing practical techniques and communicating ideas.

Our curriculum is aligned with the National Curriculum for art and design. It enables children to create work, develop proficiency in different techniques, evaluate art and learn about artists, craftspeople, designers and architects.

Art from Nursery to Year 6

Phase	How artistic learning develops
Nursery 2	Children begin to make intentional marks and explore paint using their hands, brushes and found objects. They investigate materials through their senses, manipulate them and make simple models that express their ideas.
Nursery 3–4	Children draw increasingly recognisable shapes, objects, people and emotions. They explore colour mixing, printing, collage, texture, joining and modelling, beginning to select materials for a particular effect.
Reception	Children develop greater control and detail in drawing and painting. They mix colours, work from observation, combine techniques, select tools and materials independently and begin to explain, evaluate and adapt their creations.
Years 1 and 2	Children develop control of marks, explore primary and secondary colours, create patterns and textures and work with collage, paint, print, sculpture and digital media. They begin using sketchbooks and describing and comparing the work of artists.
Years 3 and 4	Children draw increasingly from observation and explore tone, line, pattern, shape, texture and light. They develop clay, painting, collage and construction techniques and use sketchbooks to investigate, plan, review and refine ideas.
Years 5 and 6	Children make increasingly informed choices about materials and techniques. They develop perspective, composition, scale and proportion; create more complex prints and paintings; study art and architecture in context; and independently review and improve their work.
Specialist provision	Children develop artistic knowledge and practical control through adapted Cornerstones projects, with progression based on prior learning, developmental stage, communication profile and individual next steps.

What children study

The following overview identifies the principal artists, traditions and contexts studied from Year 1 to Year 6. Within each unit, children also learn and practise identified techniques from Waterloo’s Art Skills Progression Map.

Year group	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Year 1	Andy Goldsworthy: natural collage and sculpture	L. S. Lowry: landscapes	Georges Seurat: park life and pointillism
Year 2	Peter Blake: Mersey Ferry	Piet Mondrian: geometric drawing and collage	Gakonga and African art
Year 3	Cave art	Antony Gormley and the Iron Men	Greek architecture, pottery and clay
Year 4	Leonardo da Vinci	Roman mosaics	Viking jewellery and clay sculpture
Year 5	William Morris	Beatriz Milhazes	The architecture of the Royal Liver Building
Year 6	Liverpool’s Liver Birds and Carl Bernard Bartels	Joan Miró	The Royal Albert Dock and Jesse Hartley

The artists and contexts are not studied simply so that children can imitate a finished piece. They provide opportunities to investigate how artists make choices, how techniques produce particular effects and how art is influenced by place, culture, purpose and period.

Art in the Early Years

Nursery

Artistic development begins with exploration, attention and intentional action.

Children are given regular opportunities to:

• make marks using different tools, body movements and materials;
• explore paint using fingers, brushes and found objects;
• notice and name colours;
• mix and apply colour;
• handle materials with different textures;
• roll, squash, shape and manipulate materials;
• join materials using increasingly appropriate methods;
• create prints and patterns;
• construct simple models;
• use lines and closed shapes to represent objects;
• represent people, experiences, movement, sound and emotion;
• talk about what they have made.

Adults introduce techniques and vocabulary while allowing children to make genuine choices. They demonstrate how tools and materials can be used safely, draw attention to colour, shape and texture and help children develop an idea over time.

Creative development is not left entirely to free access to materials. Children need both direct teaching and repeated opportunities to explore and apply what they have learned.

Reception

In Reception, children refine the knowledge and control developed in Nursery.

They learn to:

• select colours for a purpose;
• mix primary colours to create secondary colours;
• alter colours by adding white or black;
• draw and paint with increasing detail;
• observe objects carefully before representing them;
• print and collage independently;
• combine different materials and techniques;
• choose tools and materials for a particular effect;
• explain how something was created;
• evaluate and adapt their work;
• create collaboratively by sharing resources, skills and ideas.

Children encounter art through adult-led teaching, stories, the natural world, classroom projects and continuous provision. By the end of Reception, they have developed the confidence, vocabulary and practical foundations needed to access the Year 1 curriculum.

How children develop artistic knowledge

A useful way of understanding progress in art is through three connected forms of knowledge: practical, theoretical and disciplinary. This reflects the subject-specific framework described in Ofsted’s art and design research review.

Practical knowledge: how art is made

Practical knowledge includes knowing how to use tools, materials and techniques.

Children progressively learn how to:

• control lines and marks;
• observe and represent shape and form;
• create light and dark through tone;
• mix, blend, tint and shade colours;
• create pattern and texture;
• compose an image;
• use perspective, scale and proportion;
• cut, tear, arrange and join collage materials;
• manipulate, join and decorate clay;
• construct three-dimensional forms;
• create rubbings, impressions and relief prints;
• use digital photography and simple digital art tools;
• select a technique according to the intended effect.

These techniques are explicitly taught, modelled and practised. Children then apply them with increasing independence.

Theoretical knowledge: artists, materials and contexts

Theoretical knowledge helps children understand art and the circumstances in which it was created.

Children learn about:

• artists, craftspeople, sculptors, designers and architects;
• different forms and traditions of art;
• the properties and possibilities of materials;
• how artists use visual elements;
• links between artwork and historical periods;
• how place, culture and purpose influence art;
• the importance of art and architecture within local and national heritage;
• similarities and differences between artistic practices.

This knowledge helps children make more informed choices in their own work.

Disciplinary knowledge: how art is understood and valued

Disciplinary knowledge concerns the ways in which people respond to, interpret and evaluate art.

Children learn to:

• look closely at an artwork;
• describe what they notice;
• express a personal response;
• listen to a different interpretation;
• compare artists and artworks;
• explain how materials or techniques create an effect;
• connect an artwork with its context;
• make and justify an artistic choice;
• evaluate their own work;
• identify what they might retain, change or develop;
• understand that people may value and interpret art differently.

There is not always a single correct interpretation of an artwork. Children are taught to express their views thoughtfully and support them with reference to what they can see and what they know.

Our art pedagogy

Explicit teaching of techniques

Children need to be shown how materials, processes and tools work.

Teachers model techniques clearly, breaking complex processes into manageable components. Children have time to practise before being expected to apply a technique independently within a finished piece.

Demonstration supports creativity because it gives children a greater range of informed choices.

Exploration with purpose

Experimentation is an important part of art, but it has a clear purpose.

Children may explore:

• the marks made by different pencils;
• the effects of different brushes;
• how colours mix;
• how the consistency of paint can be changed;
• how clay responds to rolling, pinching, kneading and coiling;
• how materials can be joined;
• how a printing block creates and repeats an image.

They record and discuss what they discover so that exploration contributes to later decisions.

Observation

Careful observation is deliberately developed from the Early Years onwards.

Children learn to notice proportion, position, shape, colour, line, tone, texture and detail. As they progress, they sustain observation for longer and use what they notice to make increasingly accurate or purposeful representations.

Sketchbooks

From Year 1 onwards, sketchbooks become an increasingly important part of artistic learning.

Children use them to:

• practise techniques;
• collect ideas;
• record observations;
• experiment with materials;
• annotate images;
• investigate artists;
• plan compositions;
• retain useful source material;
• review and revisit ideas;
• make refinements;
• reflect on the development of a piece.

A sketchbook is a place for investigation and thinking. It is not expected to contain only polished or identical outcomes.

Creativity through knowledge

Children are encouraged to develop individual responses rather than reproduce an adult’s example.

However, creativity is not treated as something that develops without teaching. Knowledge of materials, techniques, visual elements and artists gives children more possibilities from which to make purposeful and original choices.

Teachers may provide a common stimulus, technique or material while allowing variation in composition, colour, form, interpretation and outcome.

Artists, architecture and the local area

Children encounter art and architecture from different periods, places and traditions.

They study ancient forms such as cave art, Greek pottery and Roman mosaics alongside the work of more recent and contemporary artists. They encounter drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, printing, pattern and architecture.

Liverpool and the surrounding area provide particularly rich artistic and architectural contexts. Children study:

• Peter Blake’s design associated with the Mersey Ferry;
• Antony Gormley’s Another Place on Crosby Beach;
• the Royal Liver Building and its architect, Walter Aubrey Thomas;
• the Liver Birds created by Carl Bernard Bartels;
• the Royal Albert Dock and the work of Jesse Hartley.

These local connections help children understand that significant art, design and architecture are part of the places they know—not something found only in distant galleries or cities.

Artists and traditions are introduced where they strengthen children’s artistic knowledge. Children consider the work itself, the methods used and its wider context rather than learning disconnected biographical facts.

Vocabulary and oracy

Art has its own precise vocabulary. Children need this language to understand demonstrations, compare artworks, explain choices and evaluate their work.

Vocabulary is explicitly introduced and revisited, including terms such as:

• line, shape, form and space;
• colour, tint, shade and tone;
• pattern and texture;
• composition, scale, proportion and perspective;
• foreground, background, focal point and horizon;
• observation, representation and abstraction;
• collage, sculpture, relief, impression and overlay;
• blend, mix, join, construct, refine and evaluate.

As a Voice 21 Oracy School, Waterloo deliberately plans opportunities for children to talk about art.

Children learn to:

• describe what they notice;
• explain how an artwork makes them think or feel;
• listen to another interpretation;
• compare artistic approaches;
• explain their use of materials;
• justify a choice;
• offer constructive feedback;
• reflect on how their work has developed.

Children are taught that an artistic opinion is strengthened when it is explained using evidence and appropriate vocabulary.

Art in specialist provision

Children in specialist provision share the same entitlement to experience, understand and create art.

Art is taught through carefully selected and adapted Cornerstones projects. The projects provide meaningful contexts through which children can encounter artists, images, objects, materials, techniques and creative problems.

Some provision classes follow broad, developmentally appropriate projects in which art is connected with familiar experiences, seasons, animals, places and stories. Other classes encounter art within more explicitly historical and geographical Cornerstones projects.

Depending on their starting points, children may learn to:

• attend and respond to colours, images, materials or movement;
• make an intentional mark;
• communicate a preference;
• choose between tools or materials;
• explore cause and effect;
• notice differences in colour, shape or texture;
• match or sort materials;
• copy and then vary a simple action;
• develop control of a tool;
• combine or join materials;
• create a recognisable representation;
• plan or communicate an idea;
• review and adapt a piece;
• apply a familiar technique in a new context.

Adaptations may include:

• larger or easier-grip tools;
• adapted scissors, brushes and drawing implements;
• supportive seating and work surfaces;
• accessible or alternative materials;
• visual instructions and demonstrations;
• photographs, symbols, signing and communication systems;
• reduced language alongside accurate artistic vocabulary;
• smaller instructional steps;
• additional processing and practice time;
• sensory preparation and regulation;
• hand-under-hand or guided support where appropriate;
• alternative ways to choose, respond and evaluate.

Sensory experience may be an important starting point, but it is connected to an artistic intention. Children are supported to move from experiencing a material towards noticing, choosing, controlling, combining, representing and creating with increasing independence.

Cornerstones projects are reviewed annually to ensure appropriate breadth, meaningful connections with the wider Waterloo curriculum and responsiveness to the children in each class.

Progression is not dependent on completing the same projects each year. Teachers assess pupils’ prior artistic knowledge and practical control, identify individual next steps and use new project contexts to revisit and extend learning. In this way, the contexts can change while children continue to make cumulative progress.

Adaptation and inclusion in mainstream art

Art can provide powerful opportunities for children to communicate, participate and succeed, but access should never be assumed.

Teachers anticipate potential barriers relating to:

• fine- and gross-motor control;
• vision or hearing;
• sensory processing;
• communication and language;
• attention and working memory;
• confidence and previous experience;
• access to tools, materials and workspaces.

Adaptation may include pre-teaching vocabulary, enlarging visual references, modifying equipment, breaking techniques into smaller steps, providing additional rehearsal, offering alternative materials and enabling children to communicate ideas in different ways.

Support should preserve meaningful artistic choice and develop independence. It should not routinely result in an adult completing the significant artistic decisions or practical work on a child’s behalf.

Every child should experience the satisfaction of making something that genuinely represents their own developing knowledge, choices and effort.

Assessment

Assessment in art identifies how children’s artistic knowledge and control are developing. It considers both the creative process and the resulting work.

Teachers draw evidence from:

• observation during demonstrations and practical work;
• discussion and questioning;
• sketchbooks;
• experimentation and practice;
• children’s use of vocabulary;
• developing pieces and completed outcomes;
• children’s explanations and evaluations;
• application of a technique in a new context.

Teachers consider whether children can:

• recall and apply a previously taught technique;
• handle tools and materials with increasing control;
• select materials for a reason;
• use visual elements purposefully;
• observe and record with increasing attention;
• explain an artistic choice;
• make connections with an artist or artwork;
• use a sketchbook to investigate and develop ideas;
• respond constructively to feedback;
• revisit and refine their work;
• communicate an informed personal response.

Assessment does not reward neatness, decoration or conformity to a teacher’s example. Children may arrive at different outcomes while demonstrating equally strong knowledge and decision-making.

In specialist provision, progress may also be demonstrated through increased attention, intentional action, consistent choice, control, communication, tolerance of materials, independence or application of a familiar technique in a new setting.

What success looks like

Our art curriculum is successful when children:

• enjoy encountering and creating art;
• see themselves as capable artists and makers;
• observe the world with increasing attention;
• remember and apply important techniques;
• handle tools and materials safely and confidently;
• use line, colour, pattern, texture, shape, form, tone and space purposefully;
• explore ideas through sketchbooks;
• make increasingly informed creative choices;
• persevere through experimentation and difficulty;
• review and refine their work;
• discuss art using accurate vocabulary;
• express and justify personal responses;
• respect interpretations that differ from their own;
• know about significant artists, craftspeople, architects and artistic traditions;
• recognise the artistic and architectural importance of their local area;
• make strong progress from their individual starting points;
• leave Waterloo prepared for the artistic demands and opportunities of secondary education.

Above all, we want children to understand that art belongs to everyone. Through knowledge, practice, observation and imagination, every child can learn to see more closely, think more deeply and communicate something of their own.