Art

Intent 

At Olga, we believe Art plays a vital role in nurturing pupils’ creativity, imagination, and self-expression, while also supporting social interaction, collaboration, fine motor development, and emotional wellbeing. Through Art, pupils learn to appreciate and interpret what they observe, communicate what they think and feel, and bring to life what they imagine and invent. At its best, Art is both intellectually stimulating and creatively demanding, offering every child the opportunity to express themselves and explore the world through a different lens.

Our aims for teaching Art are to enable pupils to:

• Produce creative work, exploring ideas and recording experiences.
• Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture, and a range of art, craft, and design techniques.
• Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft, and design.
• Learn about “the great artists”, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of art forms.

Through these aims, we inspire children to develop as confident young artists with a deep appreciation of creativity, culture, and innovation.

Implementation

Our Art curriculum at Olga Primary School is carefully sequenced, ensuring progression of knowledge, skills, and vocabulary from the Early Years through to Year 6. Each year, pupils study at least three different artists and explore a wide variety of mediums, techniques, and outcomes, allowing them to build a rich portfolio of ideas and experiences.

The curriculum is structured around key strands, including:

• Sketchbooks – developing personal responses, experimentation, and reflection.
• Evaluating and analysing – using appropriate art vocabulary to critique and refine work.
• Drawing and mark-making – building control, fluency, and expression.
• Colour and painting – exploring techniques, layering, and expressive use of colour.
• Craft and design – through printmaking, textiles, collage, and pattern.
• 3D form and sculpture – investigating structure, shape, and form.
• Artists, architects, and designers – with a focus on “the great artists” from different times and places alongside contemporary and local figures.

Throughout their primary journey, pupils encounter “the great artists” highlighted in the National Curriculum such as Monet, Matisse, Frida Kahlo, and Picasso. They explore these artists’ work in depth and experiment with creating in similar styles across different media. Pupils also study diverse and local artists, such as Anish Kapoor, creator of the Orbit sculpture in Stratford, and Hafza Yusuf, a Somali clothes designer who has worked closely with the school to inspire pupils and came in to visit our school and see the art produced by the year 4 children.

By visiting art galleries and exhibitions across London, children are immersed in rich cultural experiences, seeing artwork first-hand and broadening their appreciation that art is not only something studied but a living, evolving form of expression all around us.

Impact