Art

Led by Miss Laflin

Our varied, ever-evolving Art curriculum aims to motivate and excite by offering our budding young artists an extensive range of areas to study from across history and the world! By embracing our fortuitous location of the coast and woodlands, children at Kingsdown and Ringwould engage fully in their learning, cultivate positive attitudes and relationships and make progress with developing artistic skills so their God-given talents can shine. Art and design has a strong impact upon wellbeing. This value can be seen in the uptake and enjoyment of our art and design clubs. Opportunities to create and display work in the community are actively encouraged and we see that current, topical art projects can ignite life-long interests in the arts.

Between December 2023- December 2025 Miss Laflin led our Artsmark award. This focused on developing Art as a subject, however contained threads of development through our other Arts subjects too. We received a Gold Award by Artsmark for this. The following statement contains some of the quotes from our Assessors and this demonstrates why we were given this award.

Kingsdown and Ringwould CofE Primary School has made thoughtful and well-structured progress on its Artsmark journey, demonstrating a strong whole-school commitment to embedding the arts across its curriculum and school life. You have used your Statement of Commitment to set clear goals, and there is strong evidence in the Statement of Impact that these have been met in meaningful ways. Your focus on developing curriculum design and delivery is well supported by robust action. Teachers have worked collaboratively to review and refine art and music provision, including through art staff meetings focused on supporting pupils with SEND and increasing staff confidence around your knowledge and skills maps. The introduction of ‘challenge questions’ in art and reflective drawing in collective worships show how you are helping pupils think more deeply about their learning. Staff confidence is demonstrably improving, with increased self-ratings following CPD, and this is corroborated by positive lesson observations and pupil engagement. The range of arts opportunities is notable. You describe a wide and varied offer that includes theme days, visiting professionals, arts clubs, cultural visits and performance opportunities. Particularly strong examples include Year 6 pupils drawing on their visit to Frozen the Musical to co-create their end-of-year performance, and your successful involvement in the Young Voices Choir at the O2. Local community connections have also been well used, such as Year 1’s music and art visit to a local residential care home, and pupil participation in an RNLI art competition, with winning entries displayed at Deal Library. You also highlight increased uptake in music tuition and a broader range of musical instruments now available to all children. Leadership is another strength. Artsmark priorities are clearly understood at a senior level and reflected in your School Improvement Plan. Staff meetings and governor updates have kept these priorities visible and current. Your inclusive ethos, underpinned by the school’s nurture principles, is strongly aligned with Artsmark’s Quality Principles and is consistently reflected in the way you talk about pupil outcomes and aspirations.

‘I like drawing. I drew a boat for a competition!’ Charlie

‘I like free drawing at lunch break.’ Dexter

‘I like that you have freedom to be creative in Art lessons!’ Riley

‘I liked perspective drawing. I have never done it before!’ Ella

‘I like art club and being an Art lead. I get to help make ideas for Art and join in with Art clubs and competitions. The best one was origami making.’ Josie

‘We walk around the room and look at each other’s artwork and reflect on it. If we like ideas we can magpie them and share what we like and what we want to practice.’ Gabriela