Art“Art educationalists, and psychologists who study children's art, claim that it promotes educational benefits that other school subjects cannot. These benefits come both from practising art and from learning about it”

(Richard Jolley-Child psychologist)

At Ladbrooke JMI School we believe that all children should have a broad balanced experience in art and design. High quality art education should engage, inspire and challenge children, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment invent and create their own works of art. Children should also know how art has shaped our history and contributed to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation. Art and DT is taught as a subject in itself but also through cross-curricular subjects. Children will learn to respect each other’s unique creativity. All children should be engaged, excited and proud of their work and should be able to express themselves through their art work.

The benefits of art education are:

Imagination and Creativity.  Children can take their experiences of the world and transform them through art, making new connections and relationships through their inventive minds. Their knowledge, memories and fantasies all feed their imagination. Art allows children to explore, build on and record their own creative and imaginative ideas.

Expression  Making pictures allows children to express their feelings and ideas, both as a means of self-expression and to communicate to others. These may include reliving a happy event they recently experienced (a birthday party or a day out), or drawing out some sad feelings as a therapeutic exercise. Older children may use pictures for more conceptual purposes, expressing their concerns and ideas.

Visual thinking  Pictures encourage us to think about and understand the world visually, instead of restricting learning and the acquisition of knowledge to words and numbers alone. Visual thinking helps children learn other subjects. It is a skill used in a wide variety of professions, including the sciences as well as the arts.

Observational skills  Making pictures helps children observe the subject matter of the real-world scene they are drawing from more closely, and makes them better observers of detail in the world around them. Developing observational skills through picture-making facilitates the child’s visual sensitivity to the world.

Problem solving and analytical skills  Pictures enable children to explore and test out ideas, while making decisions on how they choose to depict them. For instance, children will learn problem-solving skills as they grapple with trying to create a three-dimensional scene from the world on a two-dimensional page. With practice, children learn that concentration and persistence allow them to get closer to the pictures they are trying to achieve.

Autonomy  A child’s picture is his or her own. It has worth in its own right, without having to be measured or judged by others as right or wrong. The child has the authority to say what the picture is of, or what it communicates, building up their confidence and self-esteem.

Art Week Gallery 2020

This year our theme for art week was 'Nature'. The children collected different leaves, twigs, stones, flowers and produced some amazing pictures and work of art. Thank you to everyone who took part in creating these art creations. You managed to bring a smile to our faces during this difficult time. Click on the link below to see the childrens work:

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