Prep Art

Art isn’t just something you look at. It’s a way of looking that can enable children to see things they might once have taken for granted with fresh eyes, to value creativity and invention and to connect with and capture the world that surrounds them in new and exciting ways.

At Harrodian we want to inspire and instil a receptiveness and confidence in art and design at every age group level. We challenge and broaden students’ perception of art by introducing them to new ideas and ways of working. We promote creative thinking, encouraging our pupils to delve into the boundless possibilities that the imagination has to offer. We showcase and celebrate creativity through clubs, competitions, displays and exhibitions.

Prep level pupils are given the freedom to express themselves through different art forms and their creativity and imagination is stimulated through visual, tactile and sensory experiences. In teaching our pupils how to make art, we teach them how to use, how to understand and how to apply the following visual elements of art - line and tone, pattern and texture, shape, form, space and colour.  

Line and Tone
In early drawings, pupils use line directly to describe shape and form and the detail of things observed, remembered or imagined. Progression involves using different kinds of line, thick and thin, dark and faint, through observing the appearance of natural and made forms. Pupils will start to realise that tone can be used to explain where things are lighter and darker and how line and tone may be used to describe the structure and appearance of the things we observe. 

Pattern and Texture
From an early age, children enjoy making and inventing patterns through repeating and rearranging the simple shapes they observe in all kinds of natural and made forms. Prep pupils will discover how a variety of textures and surfaces are made and represented through combinations of lines and patterns. 

Shape, Form and Space
Simple shapes are often used by young pupils to describe the things they see and remember around them and to tell stories about events that interest them. We encourage pupils to experiment with how they can make drawings of things that exist in space and encourage them to then work in three-dimensional materials. 

Colour
Learning about colour is an ongoing process of discovery, working with traditional dry and wet materials. Progression may involve mixing and matching colours to those observed in the familiar things around them and by studying how other painters have used colour.

Artists, Designers and Craftworkers
Pupils also begin to examine the work of artists of all kinds. Looking hard at the work of others and discussing their drawings, painting, photographs, prints, textiles, installations and sculptures allows them to acquire new working methods and techniques and to share their own opinions, thoughts and ideas about art.

Working in a purpose-built environment with an extensive range of equipment, tools and resources, our pupils are challenged to create work of the highest standard.

For detailed year-by-year information, please see the Harrodian curriculum handbooks.

Trips and Extra-curricular activities

Harrodian runs 12 art clubs every week, (textiles, ceramics, printing, painting etc). We stage termly creative House competitions, take part in annual external art competitions such as Youngart and regularly invite guest speakers to the school to enrich pupils’ knowledge of the art world.

Staff

Head of Art: Laura Caldecott

Other teachers of Art: please select the relevant department on the dropdown menu to view our full staff list by clicking here.