At Moat Farm Infant School, we value Art and Design as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Art and Design provides the children with the opportunities to develop and extend skills and an opportunity to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas. We have chosen to use the scheme ‘Kapow’ across Reception and KS1 as it has clear progression of skills and allows for children to be curious, ask questions and become inspired by the diverse world around us.

Our Art curriculum provides children with opportunities to develop their skills using a range of media and materials. Children learn the skills of drawing, painting, 3D work and craft and design and are given the opportunity to explore and evaluate different creative ideas. We want our children to learn about art and artists across cultures and through history. We want them to question what ‘great’ means and ask what makes a piece of art ‘great’. We believe that our curriculum will contribute to the quality of our children’s lives, both within and beyond school.

In Art, children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can make changes and keep improving. This should be meaningful and continuous throughout the process. This is a cross curricular skill that our children use throughout their time in school within other subjects such as Design and Technology, PE and music. Children are encouraged to take risks and experiment and then reflect on why some ideas and techniques are successful or not.

For EYFS, the activities allow pupils to work towards Expressive Arts and Design Development matters statements and Early learning goals. In KS1, our curriculum supports pupils to meet the National curriculum end of key stage attainment targets.

The teaching and implementation of the Art and Design Curriculum at Moat Farm Infant School is based on the National Curriculum for KS1 and Development Matters for EYFS. Children are taught Art across a half termly period, with planning allowing children to practise, apply and transfer their skills across the curriculum. Our curriculum is designed with five strands which run throughout; These are:

– Generating ideas
– Using sketchbooks
– Making skills, including formal elements (line, shape, tone, texture, pattern, colour)
– Knowledge of artists
– Evaluating and analysing

Art and design in EYFS is taught and experienced through a mixture of child initiated, adult directed learning and open-ended play. Through EYF and KS1, our lessons focus on retrieval practise of skills that have been previously taught. This knowledge and relevant skills are then applied throughout other units of work, which are revisited again and again with increasing complexity through our spiral curriculum model. This allows pupils to revise and build on their previous learning. Units in each year group are organised into four core areas:

-Drawing
-Painting and mixed-media
-Sculpture and 3D
-Craft and design

Lessons are always practical in nature and encourage experimental and exploratory learning. Our Art journey is presented in our sketchbooks that has a focus on the experimental stage for our infant school. We then begin to apply our skills and experimental work as we move into Year 2 before progressing into the Juniors. Creativity and independent outcomes are robustly embedded into our units, supporting children to make their own decisions so that the outcomes, whilst still knowledge rich, are unique and personal to the child.

Early Years Foundation Stage
Pupils explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities.
They have opportunities to learn to:
Explore the textures, movement, feel and look of different media and materials.
Respond to a range of media and materials, develop their understanding of them in order to manipulate and create different effects.
Use different media and materials to express their own ideas.
Explore colour and use for a particular purpose.
Develop skills to use simple tools and techniques competently and appropriately.
Select appropriate media and techniques and adapt their work where necessary.

Key stage 1
Pupils are taught:
To use a range of materials creatively to design and make products.
To use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination.
To develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space.
About the work of a range of artists, craft makers and designers, describing the differences and similarities between different practices and disciplines, and making links to their own work.

Our Art curriculum is designed for children to enjoy learning as well as ensuring there is clear progression and challenge. We measure the impact through termly data analysis to inform our planning for the next term. Regular celebrations of learning demonstrate progression across the school. Pupil voices shows us that one of the children’s favourite subjects is Art and Design! This is something we are really proud of. Monitoring shows us that children are aware of a range of artists and are taught the skills needed for later life.
July 2025 data analysis shows that:
-86% of children met the expected standard for Expressive Arts at the end of Reception
-96% of children met the expected standard for Art and Design at the end of KS1
-5% of children reached greater depth for Art and Design at the end of KS1

Non-negotiables for Art:
-In EYFS, Art should be taught at least once a term through EAD and put in the provision as much as possible.
-In KS1 Art should be taught once a week for a half term, every term.
-Art should be taught through our scheme KAPOW.
-Each lesson should begin with our Art mantra – ‘in Art and Design we learn about Artists, art skills and how to express ourselves creatively’
-Key vocabulary and key questions should be shared at the beginning of each topic, and referred to throughout the topic where appropriate (Key vocabulary should be displayed on working walls)
-Learning Ladybird and Successful Spider should be shared in every lesson.
-Every lesson should have a retrieval starter.
-Sketchbooks are used in KS1. Dates are written on each piece of work but no learning objective needed
– Sketchbooks should show a journey of investigation and exploration before a final piece of artwork.
– Floors books are used in EYFS labelled as EAD
– Teachers do not mark work in sketchbooks. Children are encouraged to evaluate their own work and make annotations where appropriate.
– Artwork that is too big to fit in in sketch books is photographed and saved to the school site. Likewise, for 3D work.
-Every term, children’s Art work is displayed in our school ‘Art Gallery’
-Teachers assess their children every term

Non-negotiables for Art:
-In EYFS, Art should be taught at least once a term through EAD and put in the provision as much as possible.
-In KS1 Art should be taught once a week for a half term, every term.
-Art should be taught through our scheme KAPOW.
-Each lesson should begin with our Art mantra – ‘in Art and Design we learn about Artists, art skills and how to express ourselves creatively’
-Key vocabulary and key questions should be shared at the beginning of each topic, and referred to throughout the topic where appropriate (Key vocabulary should be displayed on working walls)
-Learning Ladybird and Successful Spider should be shared in every lesson.
-Every lesson should have a retrieval starter.
-Sketchbooks are used in KS1. Dates are written on each piece of work but no learning objective needed
– Sketchbooks should show a journey of investigation and exploration before a final piece of artwork.
– Floors books are used in EYFS labelled as EAD
– Teachers do not mark work in sketchbooks. Children are encouraged to evaluate their own work and make annotations where appropriate.
– Artwork that is too big to fit in in sketch books is photographed and saved to the school site. Likewise, for 3D work.
-Every term, children’s Art work is displayed in our school ‘Art Gallery’
-Teachers assess their children every term

Books that inspire Design and Technology – Click one to enjoy

Click to view:
Creative Play for Kids
Potatoe Printing
Printing with Materials
Interactive Gallery
Doodle Art