Art, Craft and Design at Diamond Wood

We strive to create a learning atmosphere that celebrates achievement and fosters a love for Art, Craft and Design, incorporating opportunities for exploration, experimentation, and reflection. Our pupils will be engrossed in opportunities to become young artists and art critics.

At Diamond Wood Community Academy, our intention for Art, Craft, and Design provision in EYFS and KS1 is to foster creativity, imagination, and self-expression in young learners. Through a comprehensive and well-rounded curriculum, we aim to develop pupils' artistic skills, confidence, and appreciation of the visual arts. Providing a safe and inclusive environment for all pupils, we seek to nurture their curiosity, exploration, and enjoyment of creative activities. Our intent is to support pupils in developing their artistic skills and techniques, enabling them to produce unique and imaginative artworks. The curriculum will expose pupils to various art forms, artists, and cultural influences to broaden their artistic understanding and encourage individuality in their artistic expression. The school aims to create a nurturing environment that fosters a lifelong appreciation for art.

Click here to read our full Art, Craft and Design Vision and Intent statement.

Art, craft and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As pupils progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

National Curriculum 2014

Art, Craft and Design Policy

We have developed and produced an Art, Craft and Design policy to ensure our values are applied consistently, define clear expectations, and help provide a framework for staff and pupils alike.

Please click here to view our Art, Craft and Design Curriculum policy which has been updated for the academic year 2024-2025.

Statutory Requirements

The National Curriculum sets out the statutory guidance for teaching Art, Craft and Design to KS1 pupils. Our Art, Craft and Design curriculum has been designed to ensure children learn the required knowledge and skills set out by the National Curriculum.

To view the statutory guidance for Art, Craft and Design click here.

The Early Years Foundation Stage framework provides guidance for teachers focusing on developing children's 'expressive arts and design' skills within the Early Years (Nursery and Reception). The main areas for learning which are focused upon to provide the building blocks for future 'Art, Craft and Design' learning are as follows;

• Expressive Arts and Design 
• Communication and Language
• Personal, Social and Emotional development
• Physical Development

For more information on how these areas of learning have been built into our Art, Craft and Design curriculum please see our progression map below.

Our Art, Craft and Design Long Term Plan

Substantive and Disciplinary Concepts

To download this information as a document please click here.

The Formal Elements

As previously highlighted our curriculum is designed with three formal taught units per year group. We have used the ‘EYFS’ and ‘Split Curriculum’ from Access Art to support us with the planning and sequences of learning for this. Each unit of work builds progressively, year on year, by carefully considering the deepening of understanding of the formal elements of art, craft and design. The formal elements are the parts used to make a piece of artwork. They are often used together, and how they are organised in a piece of art determines what the finished piece will look like. Our curriculum allows our pupils (as young artists) to consider each of the formal elements carefully when making their artwork.

We recognise that the formal elements are:

Areas of Making

We recognise that there are 12 areas of making. These are;

In line with the National Curriculum, we focus mainly on the areas of drawing, painting and sculpture. The National Curriculum also specifies ‘Other art, craft and design techniques’. The ‘other areas’ we have chosen to include within our curriculum are printmaking, creative crafts and collage. Our curriculum has been designed to ensure that these areas of making are revisited over time, allowing to broaden the curriculum by exploring detail and the various ways that artists and craft makers have expressed these areas of making. Our progression map highlights how these ‘areas of making’ are broken down into tangible components within each unit of work (KS1) or planned opportunity (EYFS).

Pupils need to be provided with a broad and balanced range of experiences, enabling them to develop their creativity and express themselves effectively. Our curriculum aims to encourage pupils to explore and experiment with different materials, techniques, and processes. The ‘areas of making’ we have chosen to focus upon allows us to introduce these concepts to our young learners and build the ‘firm foundations’ they will need as they transition from the Early Years into Key Stage 1 and then future learning when they leave our school at the end of Year 2.

By including these 'areas of making' in our art, craft and design curriculum, we aim to provide a well-rounded artistic education that nurtures creativity, critical thinking, and visual literacy in our pupils.

Art, Craft and Design Progression Map

Our Art, Craft and Design curriculum progression map has been designed to show how we intend to teach our pupils the practical, theoretical, disciplinary and vocabulary knowledge we aim for them to learn, know, remember and do by the end of their time with us here at Diamond Wood.

In designing this progression map we have consulted with our local feeder schools and settings in order to ensure our pupils experiences before and after coming to our school allow for progression of knowledge and skills to be built upon and continue.

The progression map allows all staff and key stakeholders in school to have a secure understanding of end of year expectations for all year groups.

In addition to using the progression map to guide teaching and learning, our Art, Craft and Design subject leader creates half termly Medium Term Plans for all year groups. These plans clearly outline the sequence of teaching and learning which will take place during the particular unit of work (or planned opportunities in Nursery and Reception). This supports our educators in ensuring consistency in approach, opportunity and delivery across school, where we have four classes per year group.

The subject leader also creates and sources high quality resources which support the teaching and learning taking place. Our smartboard lesson aids provide additional planning notes and activity resources which can be accessed by any adults delivering lessons. This supports the continued professional development of our Educational Teaching Assistants, Cover Supervisors and also any supply teachers who work within school. Again, this ensures our high expectations are consistent across school at all times.

To view our Art, Craft and Design curriculum progression map please click here.

Key Vocabulary

At Diamond Wood Community Academy, we recognise the crucial role that vocabulary plays in pupils’ learning and academic success. As such, we have developed a vocabulary progression map for each subject curriculum to ensure that all our students have a strong foundation in subject-specific vocabulary.

Vocabulary is the foundation upon which pupils build their understanding of different subjects. Tier 3 words, which are subject-specific terms, play a particularly significant role in deepening pupils’ knowledge and enabling them to access complex concepts effectively. By explicitly teaching and reinforcing Tier 3 words within each subject, we aim to:

• Enhance pupils’ comprehension and communication skills.
• Enable pupils to express themselves accurately and confidently in subject-specific contexts.
• Facilitate pupils’ ability to independently access and understand subject materials.
• Support pupils’ critical thinking by developing their subject-specific knowledge and expertise.
• Improve pupils’ overall academic performance and raise attainment levels.

To view our Art, Craft and Design Key Vocabulary Glossary please click here.

Learn to Speak like an Artist...

Key Text Spine

We have developed a key text spine for each curriculum area in our school to enhance the integration of reading into all aspects of our pupils' learning experiences. By carefully selecting texts that align with specific subjects, we support comprehension and retention while making connections between literature and the curriculum.

These key texts will either be introduced within units of work to reinforce learning objectives or recommended by teachers as enjoyable reads for pupils. Each classroom features a designated reading area where these texts are readily accessible, ensuring that children have opportunities to engage with them at least weekly.

Through this initiative, we aim to foster a love of reading, encourage exploration of diverse literature, and build a vibrant reading community that supports essential literacy skills and a lifelong passion for learning.

To view our Key Text Spine for Art, Craft and Design click here.

Artist Choices

When designing our curriculum, we have thought carefully about the artists which we chose, and the points at which the various paradigms of art are introduced to our children. In Early Years and Key Stage 1, our children are exposed to modern and contemporary art. We do not typically include traditional art within our curriculum but have worked closely with the local Junior School setting who do as children enter Key Stage 2. The reason for this is that we believe it would be within Key Stage 2 when children develop a stronger understanding of chronology and sense of time and place based upon their previous learning. Although we do not focus on Traditional Art, often also referred to as classical art, we do understand this to be art that is part of a culture of a certain group of people, with skills and knowledge passed down through generations from masters to apprentices.

We classify our artists using the following criteria:

Contemporary Art

In its most basic sense, the term contemporary art refers to art namely, painting, sculpture, photography, installation, performance, and video art - produced today. The exact starting point of the genre is still debated; however, many art historians consider the late 1960s or early 1970s the end of modern art, or modernism to be an adequate estimate.

Modern Art

Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of experimentation. Modern artists experimented with new ways of seeing and with fresh ideas about the nature of materials and functions of art.

Each year group is expected to develop a specific understanding of a range of artists, using examples from each when looking at specific themes or subject matter – as well as drawing on examples from previous learning. Artists have been chosen to represent the wide variety of artists, craft makers, architects and designers - including a range of nationalities, genders and time periods. We are determined that children see that anyone can be an artist. When children are immersed in the work of an artist, they should be taught to ask and investigate:

➢ Who produced it and when? What is the meaning of this art – what is it showing?
➢ Could it have another meaning?
➢ Why was it produced?
➢ What tools, techniques and media have they used?
➢ Can we make any connections to other art that we have seen or know?
➢ What is similar/different about this piece compared to…
➢ What do I think of it? Why?

To find out more about our chosen artists please refer to our progression map.

Developing SMSC within our Art, Craft and Design Curriculum

At Diamond Wood Community Academy, we are committed to providing a holistic education that promotes the Spiritual, Moral, Social, and Cultural (SMSC) development of all our pupils.

Developing British Values within our Art, Craft and Design Curriculum

At Diamond Wood Community Academy, we recognise the importance of developing pupils understanding of the fundamental British values within our Art, Craft and Design curriculum for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 1 (KS1). The table below outlines how we integrate and promote the fundamental British values within our Art, Craft and Design curriculum.

Developing the Protected Characteristics

within our Art, Craft and Design Curriculum

Recognising the importance of diversity, inclusivity, and equality, our school aims to nurture all pupils’ artistic abilities while promoting mutual respect and understanding. Art, Craft, and Design play a pivotal role in fostering creativity, self-expression, and cultural exploration. By consciously integrating the promotion of protected characteristics into our curriculum, we aim to:

• Develop an inclusive environment where all learners feel valued, respected, and represented
• Foster an understanding and appreciation for different cultures, backgrounds, and identities
• Challenge stereotypes and encourage critical thinking and empathy
• Support the development of positive self-identity and self-esteem among pupils
• Equip pupils with the skills needed to thrive in a diverse society

To ensure the promotion of protected characteristics within our Art, Craft, and Design curriculum, we have implemented the following strategies:

Helping at Home

Are you looking for ways to nurture your child's creativity at home? Here are some helpful tips to support your little artist's Art, Craft, and Design development in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 1 (KS1).

Remember, the process is more important than the end result. Encourage your child to enjoy the creative journey without too much focus on perfection. Let's nurture the budding artist within your child!

If you would like to know any more information about our Art, Craft and Design Curriculum here at

Diamond Wood please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Come back to visit this webpage at the end of the Autumn Term to see some snapshots of this subject in action.

Alternatively, visit our school 'X' page where staff will be posting updates throughout the half term.

You can look at some highlights from last year (2023-2024) by clicking here.