Art & Design at Tavistock Primary and Nursery School
At Tavistock Primary School we want all children to develop a creative curiosity towards art through delivering an engaging, inspiring and high quality art education. We have created a curriculum that builds on a progression of skills and allows children to explore a range of mediums and artists to inspire their own works of art. Building on prior learning across key stages provides support for learners through drawing on previous knowledge and ensures their confidence is nurtured within this subject. It also means students can be challenged to reflect on their work and develop a creative eye which is evidenced within their sketchbooks.
Art is taught in alternating half terms and each year group focuses on different artists to promote engagement, inclusivity and curiosity. Throughout the curriculum, a range of skills are embedded which we believe are valuable in contributing towards key areas of children’s development as well as creating many cross-curricular links. Children in Early Years are able to work more freely with materials to develop their own ideas through exploring a range of textures and tools and, as children move into Key Stage 1, they begin to develop their skills and understanding through embedding previous learning alongside exploring new techniques and artists. When children reach Key Stage 2 they will feel empowered to think both creatively and critically about their work in a curious and explorative manner.
The curriculum map below gives further detail about what is taught in each year group and also how we ensure inclusivity of all our children.
Please have a look at some examples of art in practice at Tavistock Primary and Nursery School.
Artist of the Half Term
To raise the profile of art in our school, we have a focus artist for each half term. These artists are from a broad and diverse range of artists and will focus on the 6 strands of art- drawing, painting, 3D, printing, textiles and collage. Children have the opportunity to do their own research or create their own art inspired by this artist to enter into a competition and potentially win a prize! Our first Artist of the half term was Nelson Makamo. Click the 'art in practice' link above to see more artists!
Sketch Books
We use our sketch books to record our ideas, to explore and pracitse particular skills and to complete some of our pieces of artwork.
Christmas Tree Festival 2025
The children created their Christmas tree ornaments with the theme of 'sustainability' for the Christmas Tree Festival at St Eustachius’ Church. Click the 'art in practice' link above to see previous years!
Sunflower Art
We took part in a charity project where we completed pieces of art based on sunflowers which were then used to decorate a hall during a fundraising event for the people of Ukraine. Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine. On the reverse of our artwork we wrote messages of hope. Our sunflower art and messages have now been transported to Ukraine and have been delivered to children as messages of hope.
Paint the Town: Spring Garlands
Children across the school worked hard to complete pieces of art for the Tavistock spring festival: Paint the Town. We made lovely spring garlands which were displayed in local shops. This year we chose the theme 'sustainability' and feel that our bright, colorful pieces brightened up the shops in Tavistock.
Congratulations to our year 6 children whose garland won the town prize for creativity!
Click the 'art in practice' link above to see our entries from previous years!