Ark Victoria Academy

Our creative curriculum is centered on preparing pupils to express their thoughts and feelings about the world around us. Pupils will become knowledge rich, learning how to respond to historical, cultural, and social influences through a range of materials, processes, and techniques. They will be able to analyse, problem solve and evaluate concepts generated from the work of others to communicate and express their own visual contributions. 

At Ark Victoria we have 6 curriculum pillars

Resilient readers: Our school prioritises reading as we understand that pupils need to be effective readers to be successful in life; all pupils will be given strategies and support as well as opportunities to read confidently and fluently, to ensure that they are able to securely access the whole curriculum and read at or above chronological reading age. Within Art and DT, pupils are required to read information and key facts about artists and designers, highlight key words or facts about the style/movement and be able to demonstrate secure critical and contextual understanding of different genres. Vocabulary is very important, and we ensure pupils understand and use the appropriate art and design technology words when carrying out any research or producing any written work. 

High quality teaching: Teachers are passionate subject experts and experts in age-appropriate pedagogy with an excellent understanding of the art and design they teach, the art and dt curriculum and the learning journey for pupils. Our teachers understand what excellence looks like within each phase and work together to ensure the transition from primary to secondary is secure, because of a shared language and approaches, as well as ensuring pupils reach the end goals. We follow the national curriculum ensuring our pupils become fluent in the fundamentals of art and design. The teaching staff within our faculty have a breadth of experience and knowledge and each have different specialisms within the art and design sector, this ensures that the teaching is always varied and innovative.  

Knowledge rich curriculum: Our curriculum design enables pupils to make good progress in each subject discipline through the explicit teaching of core disciplinary concepts and knowledge. The curriculum is planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before. Pupils’ subject knowledge becomes embedded as it is practiced and developed at each key stage. They all start with a foundation of knowledge and skills which they build on and master by the time they reach the end of year 11.  

High ambition: raising aspirations and outcomes: Teachers’ expectations are high for every child. Curriculum adaptation and judicious interventions ensure that all pupils make good progress. Teachers work hard to scaffold each lesson and ensure access to the full curriculum, rather than narrowing the offer and delivering more depth of the curriculum over breadth. Pupils understand the opportunities that school, qualifications, and a university education will afford and the importance of art and design within that and are provided with clear guidance about careers and pathways. We also promote the transferrable skills which are taught in art and DT such as presentation of work and high-quality outcomes across other subject disciplines. 

Diverse and inclusive: our curriculum is consciously inclusive and seeks to support pupils of all backgrounds, experiences, and protected characteristics to access and enjoy our aspirational curricula. An authentic and truthful study of each subject celebrates and acknowledges that diverse bodies of people have generated and evolved the powerful knowledge in our subjects and have made our disciplines what they are. We recognise the importance of developing and valuing our learners’ voice; our focus on oracy helps develop confidence, the ability to express views and build on the contributions of others. Within art lessons, ‘talk partners’ or ‘think, pair, share’ is used throughout each lesson to give pupils the opportunities to practice oracy and we explicitly teach pupils how to appropriately respond to each other while building a strong culture of error. Our pupils learn how to critique each other effectively and discuss how they can improve and develop their work further. Our pupils learn about the work of various historical/modern/contemporary artists and designers and celebrate the diverse backgrounds that they come from.  

Strong Character and enrichment: our curricula build pupils’ understanding of themselves as learners, as well as understanding the importance of values and virtues in helping to live a fulfilled and happy life. We make explicit connections not only between subjects but also between the different areas and strands of art and design. Pupils are exposed to a wide range of art forms through educational visits and exhibitions. We also provide curriculum days which are spent focused on Art and Design Technology in which pupils are given the opportunity to explore techniques and materials which they typically would not use every day.