By Ellie Daly

In the ‘Adapting AccessArt’ series, we will be spotlighting teachers who have used AccessArt resources to develop their own pathways.

In this resource, Ellie Daly, Higher level teaching assistant and Arts Award Lead at Brooklands Community Special school, shares with us her adaptation of the Making Birds pathway. Ellie recounts her love of nature and photography, and explains how this project was developed to suit a current set of students studying for the arts award.

Read on to find out how Ellie facilitated an exploration of drawing, collage, photography and sculpture.

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AccessArt is a UK Charity and we believe everyone has the right to be creative. AccessArt provides inspiration to help us all reach our creative potential.

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Pathway: Making Birds

Flying Minpin Birds

Visual Arts Planning: Birds

Pls find frequently asked questions relating to the AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum. 

If your question is not answered below pls email the team here. 

Getting Started…

• What makes AccessArt special?

  To summarise our offering and AccessArt’s USP:

  • • All AccessArt resources promote open-ended creative learning. We place great value on the creative journey – understanding that outcomes are generally excellent when each pupil is enabled to explore their own creativity. Our aim is to ensure that by the time they leave school, all pupils understand what it means to enjoy exploring their creativity through the visual arts. See our Step by Step Start up Guide here. 

    • We want to nurture aspiration amongst teachers and pupils. Our aim is to help build your understanding of what it means to teach art, so that you can offer your pupils a rich and broad visual arts education. All our resources are created by experts and often in collaboration with other experts in the field. We draw down experience from other settings including art schools, adapting it to show you how to structure activities in inspirational yet effective ways.

    • Although we encourage you to aspire high, it’s important to us that ALL teachers feel able to use our resources. Videos and CPD help support our pathways so that as a teacher you can build your skills (understanding WHY as well as HOW) as pupils build theirs. Members can access free CPD each term and we also record many events which you can watch in your own time www.accessart.org.uk/primary-art-curriculum-introductory-videos-and-recordings/

    • Many schools use us as a scheme www.accessart.org.uk/primary-art-curriculum/ – whilst other schools use our 1500+ resources to supplement and extend their own planning or external scheme. If you use us as a scheme it’s important to note it’s a completely flexible scheme which can be tailored and developed to suit your school.

    • AccessArt has the UK’s collection of visual arts ed resources. Visual arts education is all we do – you will find no other organisation which works the way we do.

    • We are a small team and very responsive and can give email or telephone advice to member schools.

    • Lastly, we are a UK charity and Subject Association. we are not doing this to make a profit. We care deeply about arts education. We have over 18,000 members and keep membership fees as low as possible – making us a very cost effective solution. Membership prices can be found at www.accessart.org.uk/membership-benefits/ .

  The following videos might also help:

  www.accessart.org.uk/introducing-accessart/

  www.accessart.org.uk/support-videos-for-the-new-accessart-primary-art-curriculum/

• I am wondering where to start, I would love to see the videos and attend training.

  The following are useful starting points:

  Starting Out With AccessArt

  EYFS

  Primary Art Curriculum

  Primary Art Curriculum Supporting Documents

  Zoom CPD

  Pedagogy

• Do you have a list of learning outcomes which we can use for tracking students’ progress as they move through the curriculum?

  You can either take the learning outcomes from the sequencing documents at www.accessart.org.uk/accessart-primary-art-curriculum-disciplines-sequencing-artists/ or via individual pathway Medium Term Plans www.accessart.org.uk/accessart-primary-art-curriculum-medium-term-plans/.

   

  It is important to note that the “I Can” statements found on each pathway are deliberately holistic and go beyond technical skills as we believe this is how art is best taught. You might also like to read posts at www.accessart.org.uk/how-do-we-assess-creativity/ in particular www.accessart.org.uk/what-does-success-look-like/ and www.accessart.org.uk/why-we-need-to-allow-art-to-be-the-unique-subject-it-is/.

• Do you have a bank of vocab used for each Pathway?

  You can find a document of vocab at www.accessart.org.uk/accessart-primary-art-curriculum-key-vocabulary/ (also available via the www.accessart.org.uk/primary-art-curriculum/ main page). 

• Do you provide Knowledge Organisers?

  We don’t have knowledge organisers although we have written an article suggesting alternate ways to think about ‘organising’ knowledge in art. www.accessart.org.uk/knowledge-organisers-for-art-in-primary-schools/.

• Where can I find supporting documents for the curriculum?

  You can find all supporting documents here www.accessart.org.uk/primary-art-curriculum-supporting-documents-and-information/.

To summarise our offering and AccessArt’s USP:

• • All AccessArt resources promote open-ended creative learning. We place great value on the creative journey – understanding that outcomes are generally excellent when each pupil is enabled to explore their own creativity. Our aim is to ensure that by the time they leave school, all pupils understand what it means to enjoy exploring their creativity through the visual arts. See our Step by Step Start up Guide here. 

  • We want to nurture aspiration amongst teachers and pupils. Our aim is to help build your understanding of what it means to teach art, so that you can offer your pupils a rich and broad visual arts education. All our resources are created by experts and often in collaboration with other experts in the field. We draw down experience from other settings including art schools, adapting it to show you how to structure activities in inspirational yet effective ways.

  • Although we encourage you to aspire high, it’s important to us that ALL teachers feel able to use our resources. Videos and CPD help support our pathways so that as a teacher you can build your skills (understanding WHY as well as HOW) as pupils build theirs. Members can access free CPD each term and we also record many events which you can watch in your own time www.accessart.org.uk/primary-art-curriculum-introductory-videos-and-recordings/

  • Many schools use us as a scheme www.accessart.org.uk/primary-art-curriculum/ – whilst other schools use our 1500+ resources to supplement and extend their own planning or external scheme. If you use us as a scheme it’s important to note it’s a completely flexible scheme which can be tailored and developed to suit your school.

  • AccessArt has the UK’s collection of visual arts ed resources. Visual arts education is all we do – you will find no other organisation which works the way we do.

  • We are a small team and very responsive and can give email or telephone advice to member schools.

  • Lastly, we are a UK charity and Subject Association. we are not doing this to make a profit. We care deeply about arts education. We have over 18,000 members and keep membership fees as low as possible – making us a very cost effective solution. Membership prices can be found at www.accessart.org.uk/membership-benefits/ .

The following videos might also help:

www.accessart.org.uk/introducing-accessart/

www.accessart.org.uk/support-videos-for-the-new-accessart-primary-art-curriculum/

The following are useful starting points:

Starting Out With AccessArt

EYFS

Primary Art Curriculum

Primary Art Curriculum Supporting Documents

Zoom CPD

Pedagogy

You can either take the learning outcomes from the sequencing documents at www.accessart.org.uk/accessart-primary-art-curriculum-disciplines-sequencing-artists/ or via individual pathway Medium Term Plans www.accessart.org.uk/accessart-primary-art-curriculum-medium-term-plans/.

It is important to note that the “I Can” statements found on each pathway are deliberately holistic and go beyond technical skills as we believe this is how art is best taught. You might also like to read posts at www.accessart.org.uk/how-do-we-assess-creativity/ in particular www.accessart.org.uk/what-does-success-look-like/ and www.accessart.org.uk/why-we-need-to-allow-art-to-be-the-unique-subject-it-is/.

You can find a document of vocab at www.accessart.org.uk/accessart-primary-art-curriculum-key-vocabulary/ (also available via the www.accessart.org.uk/primary-art-curriculum/ main page). 

We don’t have knowledge organisers although we have written an article suggesting alternate ways to think about ‘organising’ knowledge in art. www.accessart.org.uk/knowledge-organisers-for-art-in-primary-schools/.

You can find all supporting documents here www.accessart.org.uk/primary-art-curriculum-supporting-documents-and-information/.

The AccessArt Curriculum and Ofsted

• We need to be clear why we are using your scheme – if Ofsted asks. Can you help?

  It’s vital that you choose a scheme which suits your school and that the intent behind our scheme supports/matches your own intent behind teaching art as a school. See our article here. 

  Pls take a look at the videos below to understand more about the intent/ethos behind AccessArt. If your school does not already have an intent statement, you can use the messages in these videos to inform the creation of one for your school. 

  • www.accessart.org.uk/the-philosophy-and-approach-behind-accessart-resources-for-primary-schools/

  • www.accessart.org.uk/support-videos-for-the-new-accessart-primary-art-curriculum/ (we recommend watching the first 9 videos – the first four are longer so maybe watch later but the ones underneath are only minutes long).

• The progression document mentions substantive knowledge vs implicit knowledge. How does this related to Ofsted’s practical, theoretical and disciplinary knowledge?

  In the review Ofsted are very clear that they don’t expect every school to use their terms of practical, theoretical and disciplinary knowledge. There are lots of models of knowledge and even experts disagree about terminology and approach. I think all Ofsted are implying by those terms is that there is a hierarchy of knowledge, which when put together make for a rich and memorable experience for children. By hierarchy I mean it includes very tangible, finite and practical knowledge, and also more embracing, overarching knowledge, which is harder to define, but which is vital to the subject, (for example getting children to think about the purpose of art). The AccessArt Curriculum includes all those types of knowledge, with different names.

• How can I highlight I have identified points in the curriculum where it is clear whether pupils are working towards convergent or divergent goals?

  Think of things like drawing exercises being seen as convergent – the whole class is being asked to make a drawing in a certain way (ie continuous line), thinking about certain aspects of looking and mark making, and using a certain drawing tool.

  Think of things like projects where children create their own artwork (ie most of the projects in our curriculum) as being divergent – children are given choices and use their experience to make creative decisions, each of which added up helps their work be unique to them. Sketchbooks are often a mixture of divergent and convergent thinking and action.

• How can I show that curriculum content enables pupils to understand the journey of art throughout history and culture (theoretical knowledge)?

  This is embedded within the pathways. Please note we do not show the “journey of art through history and culture” – that’s a massive thing to do and often results in a reductionist approach. Instead we focus on elements which we think are relevant, engaging and exciting for pupils to know today. 

• Is it okay that units do not necessarily include what may be considered the more ‘great’ artists like Van Gough, Warhol, Monet, Lowry?

  Within the curriculum, our main aim is to ensure children see the relevance of the artists they are studying: a) to their own lives and b) to the projects. So all artists we link to in our Talking Points are chosen on those grounds.

  The National Curriculum as you know states “know about great artists, craft makers and designers” and there is general agreement amongst experts that this is very outdated. For too long there has been a focus on “dead white male” artists, almost always judging “great” from a Western perspective. We now understand that looking at art from a colonial perspective is not appropriate. So we really need to go beyond this now, and look at all kinds of artists, from all kinds of backgrounds, countries and perspectives. Doing this makes art as accessible and inclusive to as many pupils as possible.

  Our understanding is that as long as you can explain why you have chosen the artists you have, Ofsted will be happy. If as a school you decide you do want to supplement (not replace) the existing artists with more “traditionally great” artists then you can do so – but do bear in mind that if you do this too much you will end up by default with male dead artists.

It’s vital that you choose a scheme which suits your school and that the intent behind our scheme supports/matches your own intent behind teaching art as a school. See our article here. 

Pls take a look at the videos below to understand more about the intent/ethos behind AccessArt. If your school does not already have an intent statement, you can use the messages in these videos to inform the creation of one for your school. 

• www.accessart.org.uk/the-philosophy-and-approach-behind-accessart-resources-for-primary-schools/

• www.accessart.org.uk/support-videos-for-the-new-accessart-primary-art-curriculum/ (we recommend watching the first 9 videos – the first four are longer so maybe watch later but the ones underneath are only minutes long).

In the review Ofsted are very clear that they don’t expect every school to use their terms of practical, theoretical and disciplinary knowledge. There are lots of models of knowledge and even experts disagree about terminology and approach. I think all Ofsted are implying by those terms is that there is a hierarchy of knowledge, which when put together make for a rich and memorable experience for children. By hierarchy I mean it includes very tangible, finite and practical knowledge, and also more embracing, overarching knowledge, which is harder to define, but which is vital to the subject, (for example getting children to think about the purpose of art). The AccessArt Curriculum includes all those types of knowledge, with different names.

Think of things like drawing exercises being seen as convergent – the whole class is being asked to make a drawing in a certain way (ie continuous line), thinking about certain aspects of looking and mark making, and using a certain drawing tool.

Think of things like projects where children create their own artwork (ie most of the projects in our curriculum) as being divergent – children are given choices and use their experience to make creative decisions, each of which added up helps their work be unique to them. Sketchbooks are often a mixture of divergent and convergent thinking and action.

This is embedded within the pathways. Please note we do not show the “journey of art through history and culture” – that’s a massive thing to do and often results in a reductionist approach. Instead we focus on elements which we think are relevant, engaging and exciting for pupils to know today. 

Within the curriculum, our main aim is to ensure children see the relevance of the artists they are studying: a) to their own lives and b) to the projects. So all artists we link to in our Talking Points are chosen on those grounds.

The National Curriculum as you know states “know about great artists, craft makers and designers” and there is general agreement amongst experts that this is very outdated. For too long there has been a focus on “dead white male” artists, almost always judging “great” from a Western perspective. We now understand that looking at art from a colonial perspective is not appropriate. So we really need to go beyond this now, and look at all kinds of artists, from all kinds of backgrounds, countries and perspectives. Doing this makes art as accessible and inclusive to as many pupils as possible.

Our understanding is that as long as you can explain why you have chosen the artists you have, Ofsted will be happy. If as a school you decide you do want to supplement (not replace) the existing artists with more “traditionally great” artists then you can do so – but do bear in mind that if you do this too much you will end up by default with male dead artists.

Adapting the Curriculum

• Can the pathways be taught in different terms and with different year groups? Can I adapt the pathways to fit with topic links?

  Yes the pathways can be taken out of order, both within the school year and between adjacent years (or even wider apart years) to fit into your plans better. Children will work at all pathways, whenever presented them, at their own level. 

• Can I adapt the pathways easily to incorporate curriculum links?

  Take a look at www.accessart.org.uk/full-primary-art-curriculum-adaptations/ – on that page we have listed curriculum areas and how we think the pathways might be linked to topics. 

   

  The pathways are designed (and our bigger aim) so that schools can adapt and personalise them – that’s really important to us and to the children. So yes use your imagination and adapt as much as you like.

Yes the pathways can be taken out of order, both within the school year and between adjacent years (or even wider apart years) to fit into your plans better. Children will work at all pathways, whenever presented them, at their own level. 

Take a look at www.accessart.org.uk/full-primary-art-curriculum-adaptations/ – on that page we have listed curriculum areas and how we think the pathways might be linked to topics. 

The pathways are designed (and our bigger aim) so that schools can adapt and personalise them – that’s really important to us and to the children. So yes use your imagination and adapt as much as you like.

Mixed and Split Curriculum

• My school is organised differently to the norm and I need some advice on the best way to plan progression and which pathways to include.

  On our page of support videos you will find a video called “How to tailor the split curriculum for mixed year groups”. 

  • Choose pathways from the years which make up your rolling years – so for instance if you have a mixed class yrs 3 and 4, choose pathways from those years.

  • Choose pathways you think your pupils will like/respond to and which the teachers will enjoy teaching. Once you have chosen pathways, look back over your selection to ensure you are happy with your balanced curriculum. 

  • Don’t worry if they do a year 4 pathway before a year 3 pathway. The reality is that progression in art is never strictly linear and so you can pick and choose the pathways you like the sound of and its ok to introduce them to children in a slightly different order. Think of it more as layering opportunities. Many key concepts such as line, colour, shape, form etc are revisited in different disciplines/pathways so there will still be progression.

  • In your DT half terms, try to keep some drawing going – even if it is just a fifteen minute transition exercise (eg after lunch) once or twice a week. This can take place in their sketchbooks and can be standalone activities (ie not linked to a topic). This will help keep drawing skills developing and means when pupils return to an art “half-term” they ease easily into it. See this post which shares lots of drawing exercises you can try in your non-art half terms. 

• Does AccessArt cover DT?

  We don’t aim to cover the D&T curriculum. The resources we share do help build skills in many other areas of the DT curriculum, especially when it comes to construction, using tools, understanding structures, intention, review/reflection etc.

  In many cases it is a subtle change in language – DT requires you to talk about iterative processes, prototypes, intention in relation to a design brief, function, and product.

  When we use the making skills we talk about them from a visual arts perspective – where the role is often not to create something with a functional purpose in response to a brief, but instead is to make a personal creative response to a stimulus. These are important differences. Explore the Projects on a Page created by the Design and Technology Association.

   

  There are resources on AccessArt though, which straddle the line a little bit – and which you could introduce into your curriculum to help meet some  curriculum aims

  • www.accessart.org.uk/tool-box-resources-for-pupils-and-teachers-supporting-design-and-technology-in-schools/

  • www.accessart.org.uk/the-abc-of-tools-pdf-download/

  • www.accessart.org.uk/?s=tool+tips

  • www.accessart.org.uk/redesigning-food-packaging/

  • www.accessart.org.uk/wave-bowls/https://www.accessart.org.uk/tag/design-technology/

• I need to create an overview of the artists each class will follow. However, I am not sure which ones to suggest to staff to teach alongside your planning.

  The artists featured in the Talking Points area of the AccessArt website refer to the artists used in the pathways in our Primary Art Curriculum. So which artists you and your colleagues want to explore will probably depend on which pathways in the Curriculum you are using or thinking about might use.

  As a teacher/school, you are free to pick whichever artists, designers, craftspeople etc that you think will help expand the children’s experience of what art is. Of course as well as trying to include a diverse range of contemporary artists, the most important thing is that you choose artists who help your pupils build their understanding of a particular topic or discipline. So in this sense, the topic/discipline comes first, and then you find an artist to fit.

  If you haven’t seen them yet, have a look at our section on Pedagogy in Practice (accessart.org.uk) and in particular www.accessart.org.uk/which-artists-should-we-look-at-in-primary-school/ 

• Which documents should I be looking at for ‘skills progression’ to support with delivery of the Split Curriculum?

  Take a look at our video at www.accessart.org.uk/accessart-progression-of-skills-years-1-to-6/ to help you edit the progression plan.

• We have to follow a four year cycle in KS2 and I was wondering how easy it would be to adapt the planning and teach to all four year groups at the same time?

  Because our pathways don’t follow a strict linear progression, adapting the pathways and teaching they way you described should work well. If it helps, most of the activities which are now being used in schools in specific year groups started out as activities first tested in community groups which always contained a mix of ages spanning 4 or 5 years.

  Each activity can be adapted and children will enter the activity with their existing knowledge and develop what’s right for them at the time that they do it. We feel its more about layering opportunities (whenever they happen and in whatever order).

On our page of support videos you will find a video called “How to tailor the split curriculum for mixed year groups”. 

• Choose pathways from the years which make up your rolling years – so for instance if you have a mixed class yrs 3 and 4, choose pathways from those years.

• Choose pathways you think your pupils will like/respond to and which the teachers will enjoy teaching. Once you have chosen pathways, look back over your selection to ensure you are happy with your balanced curriculum. 

• Don’t worry if they do a year 4 pathway before a year 3 pathway. The reality is that progression in art is never strictly linear and so you can pick and choose the pathways you like the sound of and its ok to introduce them to children in a slightly different order. Think of it more as layering opportunities. Many key concepts such as line, colour, shape, form etc are revisited in different disciplines/pathways so there will still be progression.

• In your DT half terms, try to keep some drawing going – even if it is just a fifteen minute transition exercise (eg after lunch) once or twice a week. This can take place in their sketchbooks and can be standalone activities (ie not linked to a topic). This will help keep drawing skills developing and means when pupils return to an art “half-term” they ease easily into it. See this post which shares lots of drawing exercises you can try in your non-art half terms. 

We don’t aim to cover the D&T curriculum. The resources we share do help build skills in many other areas of the DT curriculum, especially when it comes to construction, using tools, understanding structures, intention, review/reflection etc.

In many cases it is a subtle change in language – DT requires you to talk about iterative processes, prototypes, intention in relation to a design brief, function, and product.

When we use the making skills we talk about them from a visual arts perspective – where the role is often not to create something with a functional purpose in response to a brief, but instead is to make a personal creative response to a stimulus. These are important differences. Explore the Projects on a Page created by the Design and Technology Association.

There are resources on AccessArt though, which straddle the line a little bit – and which you could introduce into your curriculum to help meet some  curriculum aims

• www.accessart.org.uk/tool-box-resources-for-pupils-and-teachers-supporting-design-and-technology-in-schools/

• www.accessart.org.uk/the-abc-of-tools-pdf-download/

• www.accessart.org.uk/?s=tool+tips

• www.accessart.org.uk/redesigning-food-packaging/

• www.accessart.org.uk/wave-bowls/https://www.accessart.org.uk/tag/design-technology/

The artists featured in the Talking Points area of the AccessArt website refer to the artists used in the pathways in our Primary Art Curriculum. So which artists you and your colleagues want to explore will probably depend on which pathways in the Curriculum you are using or thinking about might use.

As a teacher/school, you are free to pick whichever artists, designers, craftspeople etc that you think will help expand the children’s experience of what art is. Of course as well as trying to include a diverse range of contemporary artists, the most important thing is that you choose artists who help your pupils build their understanding of a particular topic or discipline. So in this sense, the topic/discipline comes first, and then you find an artist to fit.

If you haven’t seen them yet, have a look at our section on Pedagogy in Practice (accessart.org.uk) and in particular www.accessart.org.uk/which-artists-should-we-look-at-in-primary-school/ 

Take a look at our video at www.accessart.org.uk/accessart-progression-of-skills-years-1-to-6/ to help you edit the progression plan.

Because our pathways don’t follow a strict linear progression, adapting the pathways and teaching they way you described should work well. If it helps, most of the activities which are now being used in schools in specific year groups started out as activities first tested in community groups which always contained a mix of ages spanning 4 or 5 years.

Each activity can be adapted and children will enter the activity with their existing knowledge and develop what’s right for them at the time that they do it. We feel its more about layering opportunities (whenever they happen and in whatever order).

Assessment

• How do I challenge the more able children using your curriculum?

  The beauty of the AccessArt approach/pathways is that each child will meet each activity at their own level. Because there is plenty of freedom in each activity and the emphasis is on exploration there is plenty of space for more able children to stretch themselves. 

   

  Ensure you are always encouraging (all) children to push at the edges of what they do… prompt curiosity by asking them (and get them to ask themselves) “what would happen if…” “what might that materials enable me to do…” “what if I…”. “Pushing at the edges” can happen through use of materials, exploration of an idea, scale, ambition, function etc.

   

  The resources have been used with all abilities including high attaining children – they will fly as long as you don’t hold them back with restricted access to materials, or by having preconceived ideas as to what they might make. Give them the space/permission to take up their own space, and to show to you what they discover.

• Does AccessArt have any facilities or resources for assessment in primary art?

  See the following to help you think about assessment:

  www.accessart.org.uk/how-do-we-assess-creativity/.

   

  In addition, pls see the “I Can” statements on each pathway (and also written on each MTP for each pathway) of www.accessart.org.uk/primary-art-curriculum/.

   

  Please keep an eye on our events page as we do put on CPD on assessment from time to time.

   

   

The beauty of the AccessArt approach/pathways is that each child will meet each activity at their own level. Because there is plenty of freedom in each activity and the emphasis is on exploration there is plenty of space for more able children to stretch themselves. 

Ensure you are always encouraging (all) children to push at the edges of what they do… prompt curiosity by asking them (and get them to ask themselves) “what would happen if…” “what might that materials enable me to do…” “what if I…”. “Pushing at the edges” can happen through use of materials, exploration of an idea, scale, ambition, function etc.

The resources have been used with all abilities including high attaining children – they will fly as long as you don’t hold them back with restricted access to materials, or by having preconceived ideas as to what they might make. Give them the space/permission to take up their own space, and to show to you what they discover.

See the following to help you think about assessment:

www.accessart.org.uk/how-do-we-assess-creativity/.

In addition, pls see the “I Can” statements on each pathway (and also written on each MTP for each pathway) of www.accessart.org.uk/primary-art-curriculum/.

Please keep an eye on our events page as we do put on CPD on assessment from time to time.

Sketchbooks

• We have recently introduced the use of sketchbooks. What sort of things do you think I should be teaching / looking for in sketchbooks?

  In terms of sketchbooks, look out for:

  • Evidence of experimentation of materials

  • Evidence of regular drawing practice – this does not always have to be tied to the project (for instance you might do ten minute sketchbook drawing exercises in DT half terms as a transition activity after lunch)

  • Evidence that when children look at an artists’ work, they demonstrate close looking and thinking in their sketchbooks via techniques such as Show Me What You See and Making Visual Notes

  • Evidence that children are given permission to make notes in their books, including annotations, but that spelling/good handwriting is not a criteria for success

  • Evidence of reflection – “how do i feel about…”

  • Evidence of risk taking – “what happens if..” type thinking

  • Beyond the sketchbooks, ensure teachers are also making time to talk to pupils alone or in small groups about their sketchbooks. Remember sketchbooks should be used not just for personal exploration but also as a focus for conversation about intention as well as outcome. 

  • Sketchbooks are by nature places of open ended, exploratory investigation. Don’t look for linear progression, instead look for rich, layered thinking and encourage children and teachers to revisit old pages to remember, reflect, and bring ideas forward…

  Keep an eye on the events page to see if we have any CPD on sketchbooks coming up. Take a look at our Sketchbook Share recording. 

In terms of sketchbooks, look out for:

• Evidence of experimentation of materials

• Evidence of regular drawing practice – this does not always have to be tied to the project (for instance you might do ten minute sketchbook drawing exercises in DT half terms as a transition activity after lunch)

• Evidence that when children look at an artists’ work, they demonstrate close looking and thinking in their sketchbooks via techniques such as Show Me What You See and Making Visual Notes

• Evidence that children are given permission to make notes in their books, including annotations, but that spelling/good handwriting is not a criteria for success

• Evidence of reflection – “how do i feel about…”

• Evidence of risk taking – “what happens if..” type thinking

• Beyond the sketchbooks, ensure teachers are also making time to talk to pupils alone or in small groups about their sketchbooks. Remember sketchbooks should be used not just for personal exploration but also as a focus for conversation about intention as well as outcome. 

• Sketchbooks are by nature places of open ended, exploratory investigation. Don’t look for linear progression, instead look for rich, layered thinking and encourage children and teachers to revisit old pages to remember, reflect, and bring ideas forward…

Keep an eye on the events page to see if we have any CPD on sketchbooks coming up. Take a look at our Sketchbook Share recording. 

SEND

• We are a special school 3-19 mostly working at KS2 and below. Could you please provide me with some further information about how you could support us?

  We have lots of schools working with SEND as part of the AccessArt community – the resources lend themselves to being used by a wide range of ages and abilities.

   

  We have a selection of activities for SEND and EYFS which can be found here: www.accessart.org.uk/accessart-eyfs-exploring-art-in-early-years-settings/

   

  We also have a tag cloud on the right hand side of the majority of the pages on the site and if you click SEN you can see many resources which are specifically tailored for SEND. You can also explore www.accessart.org.uk/artist-led-for-send/. However, most send schools find they can adapt the majority of the resources on the site.

   

We have lots of schools working with SEND as part of the AccessArt community – the resources lend themselves to being used by a wide range of ages and abilities.

We have a selection of activities for SEND and EYFS which can be found here: www.accessart.org.uk/accessart-eyfs-exploring-art-in-early-years-settings/

We also have a tag cloud on the right hand side of the majority of the pages on the site and if you click SEN you can see many resources which are specifically tailored for SEND. You can also explore www.accessart.org.uk/artist-led-for-send/. However, most send schools find they can adapt the majority of the resources on the site.

EYFS

• How do I map out progression across Nursery and Reception using the EYFS curriculum?

  We feel the aim of this phase in terms of art, in deliberately simple terms, is to:

  • Build dexterity skills

  • Explore materials and mark making in a playful way

  • Use bodies and imaginations to inspire making

  • Explore how they can reflect and share their views about what they have seen or made

  • Explore how art enriches our lives

  We don’t outline where each child should be by the end of a certain year – there is no need to measure children in this way, instead we believe the onus is on the school to provide a layering of rich opportunities which will impact the children’s experience and understanding of the list above. Make choices that suit your school and balance 2D work with 3D. Once you have chosen which areas you would like to explore, go into the Resources and Skills editable document and see which areas are being progressed. See our EYFS resources here. 

We feel the aim of this phase in terms of art, in deliberately simple terms, is to:

• Build dexterity skills

• Explore materials and mark making in a playful way

• Use bodies and imaginations to inspire making

• Explore how they can reflect and share their views about what they have seen or made

• Explore how art enriches our lives

We don’t outline where each child should be by the end of a certain year – there is no need to measure children in this way, instead we believe the onus is on the school to provide a layering of rich opportunities which will impact the children’s experience and understanding of the list above. Make choices that suit your school and balance 2D work with 3D. Once you have chosen which areas you would like to explore, go into the Resources and Skills editable document and see which areas are being progressed. See our EYFS resources here. 

Feedback & Share

• How can I share work made as a result of the AccessArt resources?

  Please see how you can feedback to us and share your work here. 

Please see how you can feedback to us and share your work here. 

Joining AccessArt

• I am the only teacher teaching and leading art, do I still need to buy a multiuser account?

  As you are the only teacher delivering the art curriculum in your school, you won’t need a multi-user membership and you can access the curriculum and all the resources through a single membership login. However we do believe it is good practice that not one person (no matter how skilled) should be responsible for art in a school – it is far better to build expertise across staff – in which case you will need a multi-user membership so that all staff can access resources. 

• Where can I find information about memberships?

  You can find details of all membership benefits and costs at www.accessart.org.uk/membership-benefits/ and www.accessart.org.uk/teachers-of-ages-4-to-11/

• Which schools use AccessArt?

  See a map of schools using AccessArt here. 

• Can we use AccessArt as a scheme if we live outside England?

  We believe our resources and pathways can be adapted to many schools in many countries. Pls see the table on this page to help you understand age/year group equivalents. 

• Where can I network with other teachers using AccessArt?

  Join our Facebook group. Attend CPD events.

As you are the only teacher delivering the art curriculum in your school, you won’t need a multi-user membership and you can access the curriculum and all the resources through a single membership login. However we do believe it is good practice that not one person (no matter how skilled) should be responsible for art in a school – it is far better to build expertise across staff – in which case you will need a multi-user membership so that all staff can access resources. 

You can find details of all membership benefits and costs at www.accessart.org.uk/membership-benefits/ and www.accessart.org.uk/teachers-of-ages-4-to-11/

See a map of schools using AccessArt here. 

We believe our resources and pathways can be adapted to many schools in many countries. Pls see the table on this page to help you understand age/year group equivalents. 

Join our Facebook group. Attend CPD events.

See How This Resource Is Used in Schools…

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Session Recording: Adapting AccessArt

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the geometry of chickens

AccessArt Core Value #1 “Growth is driven by ideas, opportunities and reflection” illustrated by Yu-Ching Chiu.

Yu-Ching is an illustrator, designer and artist educator working in Cambridge. Yu-Ching graduated from Cambridge School of Art with an MA degree in Illustration and Book Arts. She is passionate about visual storytelling and enjoys working with a mixture of digital and analogue methods.

When Yu-Ching applied to illustrate our first core value we were instantly drawn to her calming and contemplative visual language. We loved how she combines mixed media; creating works on paper and moving it through to the digital realm to add extra touches to her painterly style.

The theme of Yu-Ching’s work often touches upon state of mind, which she uses to create narratives that resonate with her audience. She spoke about how, as people, we respond to transformation – the type of transformation that we don’t always expect or understand – and how we can take these experiences, both accidental and purposeful, and use them to grow. This really resonated with our core value ‘growth is driven by ideas, opportunities and reflection’ as we felt that it touched upon the idea of growth coming to us in different ways and how we can identify, reflect and respond with a new found freedom and clarity.

We love the outcome of Yu-Ching’s commission, sharing a tale of how the thoughts and actions of individuals can work towards achieving something amazing for all.

AccessArt Value #1

Growth is driven by ideas, opportunities and reflection.

What kind of growth makes us feel stimulated and fulfilled? As individuals, what drives us to keep creating? As communities, what makes us fair, inclusive and forward-thinking?

Society is saturated with measures of growth, and as individuals we often feel the pressure to prove, map and compare our own growth in all kinds of ways. But what other kinds of growth are there that sit outside a wrapper of numbers, and that don’t rely on the assumption that a bigger number means more success?

For AccessArt, growth has been both defined and driven by ideas. Our aim is to help enable high quality visual arts teaching and learning, and we feel that can only happen through a creation, curation and sharing of ideas relating to aspects of creative making and understanding. Ideas excite us, and giving form to those ideas so that others can access them excites us even more.

Having an ear to the ground and being agile enough to both identify and act upon needs and opportunities is the next driver of AccessArt’s work. Where we see a need experienced by pupils, teachers, educators and artists, we enjoy identifying a creative solution.

Finally, through reflection: of what worked, what didn’t work, what is happening on the horizon, and what can we help steer, AccessArt is able to refine our vision of what we need to do next.

Through all these modes: ideas, opportunity and reflection, our position of sitting slightly outside and around (fill space) the users we serve helps us act with freedom and clarity, and enables us to work hard to create a product which is both relevant to and accessible by as many people as possible.

Explore our other Core Values here.

<< Back to: All You Need To Know

AccessArt’s organisational values are important at every level. Their meaning is enriched by context: they guide how we work as a team, shape the work we deliver, and influence our relationships with users. These values not only reflect how AccessArt aims to exist in the world, but also express how creativity can best be nurtured. We hope these values resonate with you, the user, and inspire how you enable creativity in yourself and those around you.

To share and celebrate our ethos, we will be commissioning 8 artists to illustrate our values.

Please share how our core values resonate with you #AccessArtCoreValues.

Beliefs

AccessArt Value #1: Growth is Driven by Ideas, Opportunities, and Reflection

Illustrated by Yu-Ching Chiu

What kind of growth makes us feel stimulated and fulfilled? As individuals, what drives us to keep creating? As communities, what makes us fair, inclusive, and forward-thinking? Find out more

AccessArt Value #2: Enthusiasm is Infectious and We Can all Play a Role in Fuelling or Stalling the Creative Potential of Others

Illustrated by Lizzie Lovejoy

What is our individual responsibility to those around us? What do we do to encourage or interrupt positivity? How might we enable a more curious and playful approach? Find out more

AccessArt Value #3: Having the Confidence to Hold Ideas Lightly, Enables us to Create Space for Everyone to Reach their Potential

Illustrated by Jagoda Sadowska

How can we always aim to open out our thinking so that it embraces more possibilities? How can we balance structure and freedom so that we feel safe yet free? Find out more

Actions

AccessArt Value #4: Through small acts of understanding we can enable big thinking.

Illustrated by Rachel Ng

How can we create small stepping stones of experience which enable us to explore complex ideas and experiences? Find out more 

The intentions behind even the smallest actions are important. Incrementally, these intentional actions create impact.

(Call for commissioning TBC)

How can we be enabled to act with clarity? How can we avoid overwhelm and at the same time empower? How can we see every action as a jewel?

Relationships

We can be our most brave and creative selves when we feel safe and valued. To help others feel valued, we need to be kind.

(Call for commissioning TBC)

How can we cultivate a space in which we feel safe enough to show our true selves? How can we show compassionate understanding that enables individuals to feel understood and enabled?

We all have something to contribute that is of value to others. There is strength in shared experience, which empowers us all.

(Call for commissioning TBC)

How can we learn to recognise what we have to offer to others, perhaps outside our usual sphere of influence? How can we feel supported by others in our community? How can we be energised by encounters with those experiences and ideas outside our comfort zone?

Generosity of spirit can help build a bigger, more diverse and inclusive world, bringing more opportunities and greater understanding for all.

(Call for commissioning TBC)

How can we hold ourselves less tightly, so that we feel able to share and embrace the experience of others? How might we feel safe, strong and empowered whilst being small in a very large crowd?

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Session Recording: Adapting AccessArt

3 panel challenge

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Pathway for Years 4 & 5

Disciplines:
Drawing, Sketchbooks, Construction

Key Concepts:

• That when we draw, we can use expressive marks to create tonal variety.

• That we can use both images and words as a starting point to create work.

• That we can combine drawing and making to make a creative response.

• That when we photograph 3D work, we can use light and tonal value to capture a sense of space, and we can use the qualities of the material (charcoal) to capture the atmosphere.

In this pathway, children discover how they can combine drawing and making to capture a sense of enclosed space using charcoal and model making materials.

Children are freed from the constraints of creating representational drawings based on observation – instead they use the qualities of the medium to work in dynamic ways. They will also see how 2d drawing can be combined with 3d making to create a sense of space.

Theme: Coal mining, Relationship of Body to Place, Enclosed Spaces

Medium:
Charcoal, Construction Materials 

Artists: Henry Moore

This pathway will take approximately half a term, based upon a weekly art lesson. 

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

This pathway has been made in response to the exhibition Drawing in The Dark, a curation of Henry Moore’s coal mining drawings, inspired by the release of a new book written by art historian (and AccessArt Trustee), Chris Owen.

Additional Pathway

This pathway is an additional pathway to help you extend, develop or further personalise the AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum.

We suggest this pathway is used to replace a “Working in 3 Dimensions” (Blue) or a “Drawing and Sketchbooks” (Orange) pathway for ages 7 and above.

It could replace the drawing pathway “Gestural Drawing with Charcoal” pathway or making pathway “Set Design“.

You may also like to use the activities in this pathway with a smaller group of children in an after school club or community context.

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Session Recording: Exploring Charcoal

Curriculum Links

History: World War II

Science: Rocks, Electricity, Environmental changes

PSHE: Supports Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion.

I Can…

• I can explore how artists sometimes make art inspired by certain places/experiences

• I have experimented with the types of marks I can make with charcoal

• I can use light and dark tonal values to create atmosphere in my work

• I can construct a model using cardboard and paper, combining drawing and making to make my own creative response

• I can talk about the work I have made with my classmates, sharing the things I thought were successful and thinking about things I would like to try again

• I can appreciate the work of my classmates and I can share my response to their work, identifying similarities and differences in our approach and outcomes. 

• I can take photographs of my work thinking about presentation, focus and lighting. 

Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.

Materials

Medium/large cardboard box, newsprint, charcoal (ideally both willow and compressed), erasers, black and white chalk, rags.

 Construction Materials (see list here )

Pathway: An Exploration of Coal Mining

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  In this pathway pupils explore the work of Henry Moore made in response to working in a coal mine. Pupils explore how they can create atmospheric marks using charcoal, and use their own drawings as collage material when constructing a model. 

• Week 1: Introduce
  

  Explore Henry Moore Drawing in The Dark

  In 1942 Henry Moore spent one week creating observational drawings down the same coal mine that his father had worked in.

  Use the “Talking Points: Henry Moore Drawing in The Dark” resource to open up discussions about Moore’s coal mining drawings. Invite children to create “Visual Notes” inspired by the work that they see and the discussions that result on loose paper.

• Week 2: Drawing and Sketchbooks
  

  Drawing Coal Mines

  Use the “Drawing Source Material: Coal Mines” resource to get pupils to create drawings of coal mines using charcoal, focusing on light and dark areas.

  Choose stills from the videos and give children time to capture the environment of the miners. Consider how erasers might help to create lighter areas or highlight structures. Explore “Talking Points: What is Chiaroscuro?” to find out how artists use light and dark to create an atmosphere.

  Work on loose sheets of paper and finish the session by creating a “Backward Sketchbook” from all of the work created in the first two weeks.

• Choose…
  

  Choose a Stimulus

  Decide if you would like to use visual prompts or a quote as the stimulus for the coal mine structure…

• Option 1: Weeks 3 & 4: Inspired by Imagery
  

  Charcoal Cave

  

  Use and adapt the “Charcoal Cave” resource to create a coal mine.

  Refer back to sketchbook drawings and notes to help capture the sense of place.

  Provide pupils with stills from the films in the “Drawing Source Material” while they build their sets. Encourage children to build their own props.

  Consider the structure of a mine, thinking about the layout and equipment used to ensure the workers were safe. 

• Or…

• Option 2: Week 3 & 4: Inspired by Quotes
  

  Set Design

  

  Use and adapt the “Set Design with Primary Aged Children” resource and give children the opportunity to build a set using quotes from the “Talking Points: Drawing in The Dark” as a starting point.

  Combine this activity with part 1 of the “Charcoal Cave” to explore mark making with charcoal. Use the charcoal drawings to create an impactful space inspired by a quote.

• Optional:
  

  Add Figurative Drawings

  

  Use and adapt the “Exaggerating to Communicate” resource. Invite pupils to adopt the poses that miners had to squeeze into, to access smaller areas within the mines. Ask them to draw how it feels.

  Cut out the drawings and add them to the charcoal coal mining sets.

  

  Or use and adapt the “Drawings with Mass” resource to create a sense of weight in drawings.  

• Week 5: Photography
  

  Photograph

  Invite children to take photos of their sets in a dark room, using a torch to highlight areas of their coal mines and to capture the sense of space.

  

  Use and adapt this resource to find out how children can take high quality photographs of “3D Artwork“.

  Ask children to select their favourite images to print and add to sketchbooks.

• Week 6: Present & Share
  

  Share, Reflect & Discuss

  

  Clear a space and present drawings, sketchbooks, models and photographs.

  Walk around the space as if it were a gallery. Enable a conversation about the journey and skills learnt.

  Reflect on the work that has been made by running a class “crit“.

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

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Pathway: How can i use light & dark to create a sense of space, Inspired by Henry Moore?

For ages 11-14, explore this pathway inspired by Henry Moore’s coal mining drawings

PATHWAY: HENRY MOORE & THE SHELTER DRAWINGS

Explore the Shelter Drawings by Henry Moore with this pathway aimed at Primary ages

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

Discipline: Drawing, Collage, Set Design

In this pathway, suitable for ages 11 to 14, we explore a series of coal mining drawings made by Henry Moore. Use his work as the basis for conversation in the classroom, and then use the AccessArt resources below to enable a contextual exploration of figurative drawing, mark-making and collage, or scratch model design, inspired by Moore’s work.

This pathway has been made in response to the exhibition Drawing in The Dark, a curation of Henry Moore’s coal mining drawings, inspired by the release of a new book written by art historian (and AccessArt Trustee), Chris Owen.

Theme:
Mining

Medium:
Paper, Charcoal, Cardboard

Artist:
Henry Moore

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Four Studies of Miners at the Coalface, 1942, drawing. (HMF 2000a). Photo Michael Phipps. Reproduced by permission of The Henry Moore Foundation copy

1942 Henry Moore sketching two miners at Wheldale Colliery Henry Moore Foundation archive 7 x 8” black and white print. Photo: Reuben Saidman

Explore an Artist…

Talking Points: Henry Moore

Explore “Talking Points: Henry Moore” to introduce the artist and his ‘Pit Project’ to students. Use the questions to prompt discussion about the processes used by Moore and the work he created.

Invite students to make some “Visual Notes” as they watch the video.

A Brief History of Coal Mining

Watch some videos depicting the day-to-day life of a coal miner at “Drawing source Material: Coal Mining“.

Pause the films on interesting compositions and invite students to draw in sketchbooks. Take inspiration from the “Show Me What You See” resource to guide the session.

Pit Boys at Pit Head 1942 by Henry Moore, Wakefield Permanent Art Collection Image Courtesy of The Hepworth Wakefield LR copy

Figurative Drawing

Henry Moore created drawings of coal miners as they worked. You may want students to create some figurative drawings of classmates in sketchbooks.

A photographer once captured images of Moore drawing the miners as they worked. Use the “Drawing Someone Drawing Something” resource to emulate this idea.

Focus on drawing faces using the “Portrait Club” resource as inspiration for a classroom set up.

Mark-Making and Collage

In this resource, artist Laura McKendry demonstrates different ways to make expressive marks using charcoal, in order to create a collage of a coal mine scene.

Use the “Expressive Charcoal Collage: Coal Mines” to encourage students to explore ways of working expressively and abstractly using charcoal, and explore different mark-making processes to portray the enclosed space of a coal mine.

Set Design

Use and adapt “Introducing Set Designing – Exercise to Respond to Text” to create scratch set designs inspired by texts about Henry Moore’s coal mining experience.

Refer to “Talking Points: Henry Moore” to find texts to inspire the creation of scratch models.

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