Within our federation we aim to stimulate the children’s creativity and imagination through high quality art and creative experiences and art is promoted through all areas of the curriculum where appropriate. In Key stage 2, art is often taught alongside topic work, which helps to bring topic learning to life.
We aim to provide an exciting and challenging art curriculum. Children are encouraged to discuss and express their own opinions through their art works and our art curriculum aims to engage, inspire and challenge pupils and equip them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art. We endeavour to enable and assist the children in the development of their skills and mastery of art and design experiences and techniques during the primary phase of their education.
The children at Toftwood Junior School regularly use their personal sketch books. These are used to record their observations, for working out plans, ideas and designs and for developing techniques through practice and experimentation. They also provide the opportunity to review and revisit ideas as they move through the school.
Art Autumn 1 2023
Reception
In reception we have been exploring the creative areas to make lots of artwork. We have also been working on explaining what we have made and have practised sharing our knowledge of how to make things with others. We have been working hard at practising our safe scissor skills and using our imaginations to create with purpose. During our harvest morning we created hedgehogs using paint and fork
Year 1
The children have been learning about their favourite animals this term as part of their topic learning. They chose their favourite animal and used a photo of the animal to draw their own. They looked at the different shapes they could see and thought carefully about the sizes of the animals different body parts. They then painted their animals, thinking selectively about the colours they chose.
Year 2
In Autumn the children have designed and created their own medieval shield. The children thought carefully about the colours that they would use for their shield, many using typical Nordic colours such as gold, yellow, green. They then added their own icons to their shield, they did this by creating a stamp which they stamped onto their painted shield. The results were great!
Art Summer 2
Reception
In Reception this half term, we have been creating art using different materials. The children used bubble wrap to print and explored the different texture it produced. They used tissue paper to create a collage and thought about how it looked when they scrunched it up or laid it flat. The children also used cupcake cases to make the ears of their pufferfish.
Year 1
In Year One we have created a year group tree. We made bark rubbings of the trees on our school field. Then we gathered leaves and used crayons to create rubbings of these too. Finally we cut them out and laid them down altogether in the hall. We were very happy with the results!
Year 2
In Year 2, the children took part in an art carousel. They explored different artworks by artists such as Kandinsky and Van Gogh and then had a go at creating their own artwork in their styles. We were very impressed with the children’s work. They also exhibited their art work at Toftwood Tate this half term. They enjoyed showing around Reception, Year 1 and Year 3 children as well as showing their families all of their amazing art that they created throughout the year.
Art Summer 1
Reception
In Reception this half term, we have been exploring art both in class and outside in Ted’s Den. We have been experimenting with different materials including pipe cleaners, buttons, gems, pebbles, leaves and sticks to make our artwork. We had to think carefully about the material we chose to represent different elements in our art frames!
Year 1
In Year One we have been looking at the artist Jackson Pollock during our Planet and Beyond topic. We learnt about the techniques he used in his artwork and had a go at creating some of our own splatter paintings. We discovered that flicking the paint created lots of different patterns including lines, dots and curves. We had so much fun making our Pollock inspired galaxy paintings!
We also looked at the work of Andy Goldsworthy and created our own sculptures out of natural materials on the school grounds. We used leaves, grass, stones and feathers to make pictures on the playground.
The children also used natural materials to weave. They found natural objects and weaved these between some pieces of string to create some lovely pictures. They also used the leaves to print into clay.
Year 2
We have been very busy in Year Two this half term. We explored the artwork of the American artist Andy Warhol, as part of our Art Around the World topic. We drew our own pictures and photocopied them to make four exact copies, in the style of Warhol. We then experimented with oil pastels to add bold colours to our work.
We then learnt about Australasian aboriginal ‘dreamings’. We explored some material with aboriginal prints to look at the colours and techniques used. We cut out bold designs and symbols in black sugar paper to create waterholes, footsteps, people and animal tracks in our dreamings. We noticed aboriginal paintings use lots of repeating dot patterns, which we then incorporated into our own art by dipping cotton buds into paint.
The children also created some paintings inspired by the continent of Asia. We were inspired by the cherry blossoms that can be found in Asia throughout the Spring and the children recreated these with paint. They thought carefully about the colours they would need and were successful when mixing red and white to create the perfect shade of pink.
Art Spring 2
Reception
The children in Reception have been doing observational paintings of daffodils. They talked about the different colours and how the paint could be mixed to create lighter shades such as mixing yellow and white will make light yellow. 
Year 1
In Year 1 this half term, the children have been learning to sketch and shade to add depth and texture to their drawings. They used these techniques to draw a planet of their choice and were able to illustrate how the light from the sun creates highlights and shadows. We also discussed how we can make the planets look spherical using these techniques.
Year 2
In Spring 2 the children in Year 2 have started the ‘Art Around the World’ topic. They have learnt about the artist Wassily Kandinsky and they created their own painting and matching collage using his ‘Concentric Circles’ painting as inspiration. They will continue this topic in Summer 1 and create some more artwork in preparation for the art exhibition ‘Toftwood Tate’ when they will show the rest of the school and their grown-ups their artwork!
Art Spring 1
Reception
The children in Reception have been doing lots of Art related to their ‘Fantasy’ topic. They have been busy learning how to make pirate hats from folded paper, designing aliens and have taken part in a guided drawing session to learn how to draw Supertato.
Year 1
This half term we have been focussing on the different seasons. We researched about each season and looked at the different colours we could see and how the trees changed over time. The children then chose their favourite season and painted a scene to reflect this. They then cut out a tree using an outline of their hand and arm and used scrunched up tissue paper to look like leaves, blossom or snow depending on which season they chose.
Year 2
We have learned about the artist Claude Monet, in Year Two this half term. We looked at his famous painting ‘The Water Lily Pond’ and studied the techniques he used to create this. We then visited the pond in our school grounds to make observations about what we could see. We then used watercolour palettes to create our own pond paintings in the style of Claude Monet, carefully thinking about the colours and brushstrokes.
Art Autumn 2022
Reception
In reception we have been exploring the creative areas to make lots of artwork. We have also been working on explaining what we have made and have practised sharing our knowledge of how to make things with others. We have been working hard at practising our safe scissor skills and using our imaginations to create with purpose. To celebrate Diwali we created our own diva lamps out of clay and decorated them using sequins.
We have also been looking at birthdays and have made cakes using playdough, collaging with materials such as buttons, sequins and felt and even had a go at drawing and writing our very own birthday cards.
Year 1
This term, the children have been using paint to create pictures. They drew their favourite animal and then used paint to add colour. The children really enjoyed thinking about their favourite animal and its characteristics such as how many legs it has and what colour it is and including this in their picture. The children have also been able to create snow globes using printing techniques to add snow to their creation. The children enjoyed imagining what it would be like inside a snow globe and using this to inspire their own snow globe.
Year 2 Autumn 2022
During our Art lessons in Year 2 we looked at who Vincent Van Gogh was and the style of his paintings, to widen our knowledge of artists. When creating our own versions of Starry Night we created swirls with our brushstrokes to give a similar effect and carefully selected an appropriate colour palette for our piece.
We also had a go at using chalk and oil pastels to create a day and night picture. The children worked on their blending to create some beautiful pieces of art. They also incorporated the shadow of a tree to show it both in the day and at night.
Art Summer Term
Year 3
This term we looked at the artist Jeannie Baker and created a collage using natural materials. We also used this knowledge to create our own window collages with our grown-ups during a parent afternoon. We used a variety of materials such as fabrics, tissue paper, crepe paper, foil and magazines.
As part of SAW (Science, Art and Writing) week, we created a sunrise of a prehistoric world and after researching dinosaur shapes, created a silhouette of a dinosaur to place on our watercolour background. We focussed on perspective using smaller silhouettes in the background and larger silhouettes in the foreground of our paintings.
As part of our school trip, we created a modern stained glass window – inspired by Norwich Cathedral’s modern trinity stained glass window.
Year 4
Inspired by our English unit of Africa, we created an African sunset using watercolours. We then researched the types of African animals and trees prevalent and used black card to create the silhouettes.
Year 5
Using our knowledge of the Norfolk Broads from our Geography unit as our inspiration for our art, we created a collage. We made mood boards, thinking about foregrounds, backgrounds, perspective and textiles.
Year 6As part of our topic on World War 2, the children designed and made Anderson Shelters. They used their measuring, cutting and design skills to create their shelters and then evaluated them based upon their strength and appearance. The children worked very hard to make them look authentic; some even had little vegetables growing on the roof just as they did during the war.
Art Spring Term
Year 3
We used our knowledge of Stone Age cave art to create our very own stone age inspired painting. We emulated Neanderthal techniques by using sticks to daub paint on an uneven surface to create animal and hand images.
We also learnt about the artist Georgia O’Keeffe and created our own flowers, using the different mediums of watercolours, sketching pencil and oil pastels.
Year 4
Using our knowledge of Islamic art, we created a tile block using thick string showing an Islamic pattern and then painted over this, pressed it onto the paper to create a Islamic inspired print.
Year 5
Inspired by our Art unit on Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, we created a piece of pop art using lino printing. We re-created our image four times setting a different paint colour over the tile each time. The images made were very striking.
Art & Design Spring 1 – 2023
In spring 1, Year 5 studied Pop Art and focused on artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. The children were inspired by these artists and as a result produced their own Pop Art by printing with bold colours. The skills they focused on were: drawing, tracing, cutting (using lino cutters) and printing.
Art & Design Autumn Term 2022
Year 3, Autumn 2 2022
In Art this half term, the children have exercised their sketching skills by applying last half term’s work on texture, line and tone, when sketching Ancient Egyptian and Hindu artefacts from our History and R.E. units this term.
Year 4, Autumn 2 2022
Year 4 created a Mosaic, we were inspired by our history topic of the Romans. We used experimented with different colours and tile sizes in our sketch books before creating our mosaic using small paper tiles – known as tesserae – to create our final piece of art.
Year 6, Autumn 2 2022
In Year 6, we have been using our history topic of Ancient Greece as a stimulus for our art and DT. We wrote about mythological beasts and used our knowledge to design and make a Greek creature from clay. First, we thought about how to create different textures and then what details we needed to add.
Art & Design – Junior – Autumn 2022
Autumn 1, Year 3
This half term, we have learnt how to use shading to create different textures. We have looked at:
Year 3 have also learned about Antoni Gaudi and have imitated his style of work in designing and creating our own Gaudi-esque tile prints. We used rollers, paint trays and acrylic paints to create a repeating pattern of a portion of our tile.
Autumn 1, Year 5
Year 5 have been working hard to develop their art skills of light and shade, using various media of pencils, pastels and water-colours.
We have brought all these skills together in a sunset image of Stonehenge.
Dinosaur Day 2022
In the morning, Year 3 researched which dinosaur they wanted to create a silhouette of. Once they had decided on their dinosaurs, they free drew it/them on black paper. Next, they created a vibrant sunset using watercolours to wash the paper. Finally, Year 3 positioned the dinosaur/s on their sunset and glued it in place.
In the afternoon, each child chose a dinosaur skeleton to draw. This they sketched on black A3 paper and then carefully glued art straws cut to the requisite length to make the skeletons.
On Dinosaur Day, Year 4 focussed on creating a splatter painting of their favourite dinosaur. First, the children had to cut out a template and stick it to a piece of card. Then we were able to flick paint at the paper to create the splatter technique! We are so proud of how these have turned out and the children were particularly excited to take the stencil off and reveal the finished product.
In Year 5, each class were shown a picture of a T-Rex that they were going to replicate. Each class were split into four groups and the picture was divided into four sections. Using an iPad, each group took photographs of objects to match the colours on their section of the picture. Back in the classroom, the children were shown how to edit and crop the photographs ready to be printed and used in the afternoon.
After break, the children had the task of designing and making their own 3D clay dinosaur model. The children were shown many different types of dinosaur and they recorded any features that they would like to incorporate in to their design. The children produced a wide variety of interesting and creative models.
“I enjoyed making the clay dinosaur because it was fun to sketch our design and to try the different skills out on the clay.” – Rose
In the afternoon, the children got back into their groups and were given a large version of their part of the picture. Using the photographs taken in the morning, the children cut each photograph in to squares to re-create their section of the picture. The children worked creatively and showed great perseverance to complete the task.
Each class created an amazing replica of the original picture, well done Year 5!
Year 6 used their sewing skills to design and create small dinosaur toys. The children used a variety of stitches including running and cross-stitch to secure their pieces of felt together. They decorated their dinosaurs with additional pieces of felt, buttons and beads. The children then used stuffing inside of their felt creations to bring them to life. They were all very pleased with the final outcome!
Spring 2 Art
Year 3
This term, we have looked at the works by Georgia O’Keefe. Year 3 has emulated them using the techniques of shading and toning.
We initially used sketching pencils, showing how we are able to use the different shading techniques to create colour and shape variation.
We completed our Georgia O’Keefe unit by sketching and then painting flowers in the style of the artist.
Year 4
This half term Year 4 have been trying their hand at digital art! We have been using an online photo editor called Pixlr to create book covers for our myths produced in our English lessons. The children practiced skills such as cropping, layering and adding text to images. They have loved applying these skills to produce their final designs!
Year 5
This half term, Year 5 have focused on D.T rather than Art. The children will continue with developing their Art skills in the summer term.
Year 6
This term year 6 have been focussing on printing in our art lessons. In order to combine it with our science topic of adaptation, and evolution, we have been making leaf prints in clay, and using various printing techniques to print leaf patterns on paper.
The children have also produced some very detailed observational drawings of various types of feathers, and using their observational skills to create sketches and paintings of different species of birds.
Amazing Art Display Spring Term
This half-term, children in every class across the federation have been working on a very special project. This has involved a dinosaur, printing and lots of paint!
Look out for more pictures and details coming soon!
Year 3
This term we have been learning about the Stone Age.
We have recreated cave paintings using sticks as paintbrushes. We used paints to create the vivid earth colours used by the Stone Age people.
We know that Archaeologists and Historians are unable to tell us exactly why the Stone Age people created these drawings – whether it was for decoration or to indicate a place of worship. However, we do know that it depicts scenes from their lives. Which makes them useful learning tools.
Year 4
Year 4 have been looking at Islamic art this half term. The children researched different elements of Islamic art such as calligraphy, geometric patterns, vegetal (relating to plants) and repetition of patterns. They particularly enjoyed discovering that most Islamic art will have a small deliberate mistake to show that nobody is perfect! After creating their final design, the children then made a printing tile out of string and card and used it to print a repeating pattern into their books. We have all enjoyed this topic, as we have been able to use a range of different mediums such as pencils, string and paint!
Year 5
Year 5 started their project by learning about different printing styles. The children experimented with how they could make effective markings with paint. The children then designed a leaf template on a polystyrene tile and used this to print four times to replicate Pop Art. The final task was to evaluate their printing pieces. Year 5 have created some fantastic pops of colour!
Year 6
The children designed a Greek style mythological beast, which they then made from clay. Before creating their own sculpture, they had the opportunity to practise different skills such as squeezing, pulling, pinching and rolling the clay. They also used different tools to create details on the clay. Finally, they painted their sculptures!
