Modeligo National School Visual Arts Policy
Rationale
We, the staff at Modeligo National School, agree to teach a comprehensive Visual Arts curriculum. We will endeavour to deliver a broad-based and balanced programme. It is our intention that our Visual Arts programme will expand the children's means of exploring, expressing and coming to terms with the world they inhabit, in a structured and enjoyable way. This document will serve as a source of information for teachers, parents, the Board of Management and the Department of Education.
Vision
Visual Arts activities enable the child to make connections between the imaginative life and the world, and to organise and express ideas, feelings and experiences in visual, tangible form. In drawing, painting, constructing, inventing and creating, the child assimilates and responds to experience and tries to make sense of it through art.
Aims
We endorse the following aims for Visual Arts:
- To help the child develop sensitivity to the visual, spatial and tactile world and to provide for aesthetic experience
- To help the child express ideas, feelings and experiences in visual and tactile forms
- To enable the child to have enjoyable and purposeful experiences of different art media and to have opportunities to explore, experiment, imagine, design, invent and communicate through different art materials
- To promote the child's understanding of, and personal response to, the creative processes involved in making two- and three-dimensional art
- To enable the child to develop the skills and techniques necessary for expression, inventiveness and individuality
- To enable the child to experience the excitement and fulfilment of creativity and the achievement of potential through art activities
- To foster sensitivity towards and appreciation of the visual arts
- To provide opportunities for the child to explore how the work of artists and craftspeople might relate to their own work
- To avail of the expertise of local artists where possible
Strands and Strand Units
| Strand | Strand Units |
|---|---|
| Drawing | Making Drawings / Looking and Responding |
| Paint and Colour | Painting / Looking and Responding |
| Making Prints / Looking and Responding | |
| Clay | Developing Forms in Clay / Looking and Responding |
| Construction | Making Constructions / Looking and Responding |
| Fabric and Fibre | Creating in Fabric and Fibre / Looking and Responding |
Children with Differing Needs
Our Visual Arts curriculum will provide opportunities for children with special educational needs to show capabilities and independent achievement. With the help and guidance of teaching and support staff, we will encourage these children to reach their own individual potential. Children with apparent artistic talent will be given opportunities to expand their knowledge and to showcase their work. Visits by professional artists could be one vehicle for nurturing talent.
Linkage and Integration
Opportunities for linkage and integration will be provided wherever possible in our Visual Arts programme. This process will help extend the child's understanding of both the Visual Arts strands and the subject areas with which they can be integrated.
Sample areas for integration include:
- Gaeilge — ag déanamh pictiúrí agus ag dathú
- English — pictorial response to poetry and stories
- History — models and pictures
- Music — express feelings pictorially created by music
- Geography — drawing maps and charts
- Religion — artwork included regularly
Assessment and Record Keeping
The assessment of Visual Arts will involve observing certain crucial areas of each child's ability and, more importantly, their efforts. These areas include:
- The child's ability to engage with the task in hand
- The child's attitude and enjoyment of the subject
- The child's ability to work in a group, with a partner, or alone
- The child's ability to describe their own process
- The child's ability to self-evaluate
- The child's level of fine motor skills
Assessment Tools
- Teacher observation
- Teacher-designed tasks
- Work samples
- Portfolios and projects
Time Allocation
A time allowance of 3 hours per week will be allocated to Arts, within which Visual Arts will be assigned 1 hour per week. Owing to the practical nature of the subject, blocked time for project work or integrated studies will sometimes be used as an efficient way of managing time.
Display
The main display areas are the spaces within the school building — classroom walls, notice boards, corridor walls and the assembly hall. Occasionally, outside agencies such as the local Credit Union, church, library and shop windows may also be used to display children's work. Displays will be changed and varied regularly to maintain children's interest. Pupils may be consulted about, and involved in, the manner of display of their own creations.
Resources
Each classroom will have a basic supply of art materials for daily use; more supplies will be stored in the office. Each teacher will be responsible for collecting miscellaneous materials for specific projects (e.g. junk materials, fabric scraps, egg boxes), much of which can be brought in by children. The expenditure of any grant monies from the Department of Education will be sanctioned following consultation with staff, based on identified needs.
Health and Safety
The health and safety of children is always a top priority. The nature of the Visual Arts curriculum is such that there are more health and safety risks involved than in other curricular areas. The most hazardous of these would be the use of scissors, glue and staplers. Children will be closely supervised at all times during activities involving this type of equipment.
Community Links
Children will be encouraged to participate in local art competitions and have their efforts displayed (e.g. at the Credit Union, local supermarkets). Children's artwork may be used to decorate the local church for First Communion and Confirmation.
Success Criteria
The success of this plan will be measured by:
- Teacher observation of the child's progress through observing, questioning and monitoring
- The child's response in a variety of ways to visual arts tasks
- The child's ability to evaluate their own work and the work of others
- The child's commitment and involvement with assigned tasks
- Teacher-assigned tasks to see how the child responds and their choice of medium and materials
- Portfolios, samples and projects of the child's work
- Collaborative and project work
- Regular displays of artwork throughout the school
- Participation in local competitions
Review
This policy will be reviewed in 2025–26 by all teaching staff, and any amendments will be noted and acted upon.
This policy was ratified by the Board of Management on 27 January 2022.
Chairperson, BoM: Sr. Veronica Casey