Art

Hi I'm Miss Ronchetti and I’m one of the art subject leaders at St Leonard’s. I love the enthusiasm that the children have for their Art lessons at St Leonard's. Our Art curriculum encourages the children to experiment, invent and proudly create their own masterpieces, inspired by a wide variety of great artists. We’ve worked really hard to ensure that the children get to know artists from all across the globe, celebrating the rich diversity of the subject. 

My name is Mrs Viney and I currently teach in Year 1.  I feel really lucky to work with Miss Ronchetti as Curriculum Leads for Art and Design across the school.  I believe that art is for everyone and is made up of all sorts of people from within our own communities and further afield.  At St. Leonard's, I see and hear children get excited about Art and I love listening to them talk about their own work and the work of others.  As well as a range of artists, our Art Curriculum builds on prior learning and develops visual literacy, allowing children to learn artistic skills and techniques whilst expressing their own ideas.  I believe learning in Art builds resilience, as children need to try out different ideas, study their mistakes, look again, try something different and persevere.  Learning in Art is a very exciting and rewarding learning journey, through which children learn a lot about themselves.  

What does Art & Design look like at St Leonard's?

We aim to teach the children that Art is an expression of emotions, the imagination and experience.  Through art we can learn to appreciate and savour the visual environment.  It involves children using and learning about other cultures, periods in history and modern movements. Our Art Curriculum is designed with five strands that run throughout. These are:

• Making skills
• Formal elements (line, shape, tone, texture, pattern, colour)
• Knowledge of artists
• Evaluating

Throughout the school, these strands are revisited in every unit. In our skills-based units, pupils have the opportunity to learn and practise skills discretely. The knowledge and skills from these units are then applied throughout other units in the progression.

We also use our Art Curriculum to strengthen our Curriculum Intent to 'Celebrate Our Community'. St Leonard's is a hotbed of artists and we are working with a selection of these artists to create permanent, high-quality art installations across the school to inspire and enthuse our children. For example, in 2022 we worked with the local artist Jess Carvill to create some amazing textiles, inspired by COP 27. In 2023, we worked with another local artist Steve McCracken to paint street art with a message of hope for the world.