Trotts Hill Primary School and Nursery
'Every child is an artist'
Pablo Picasso
'I love Art at Trotts Hill because we paint a lot and I love painting plants.' Hunter
'Art at Trotts Hill is very fun and inspiring.' Willow
'Art at Trotts Hill is really creative and nothing can be wrong, everything you do is correct.' Gabriel
Trotts Hill believes that art is an integral part of children’s education. Art has a significant and valuable role in providing an enriched curriculum to the pupils. The art curriculum develops children’s critical abilities and understanding of their own and others’ cultural heritages through studying a diverse range of artists. Children are engaged, inspired and challenged to use different skills to invent, experiment, create and criticise their own works of art.
Children will develop their understanding of art and design with effective teaching, sequences of lessons and experiences both in school and between link schools. In Key Stage 2 children have the opportunity to meet real artists. Children have an opportunity to participate in art projects in their local community. Understanding of the visual elements of art and design (line, tone, texture, colour, pattern, shape, 3D form) will be developed by providing a curriculum which will enable children to reach their full potential. This is through cross curricular learning. We teach a skills-based art curriculum, which gives opportunities for children to express their creative imagination as well as practise and develop mastery in the key processes of art: drawing, painting, printing, textiles and sculpture. Each child has a sketch book to show their creative journey throughout each topic. The sketch books also give opportunity to show the progression of skills and coverage of different artists. Staff and governors meet termly to show case the different elements of learning and skills taught throughout the key stages.
Art contributes to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection. Through use of sketch book children are able to clearly show their journey of learning and progression of skills learned in each year group. Each link to an artist or experience is integrated in their sequenced learning. Through the progression of skills, all children have a broad experience of art and design, and are able to improve their mastery of techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials. The arts mark has recognised the broad and varied art curriculum in our school.
Colour in the Underpass
Last year, Trotts Hill proudly participated in the thrilling ‘Colour in the Underpass’ competition, which saw an incredible 950+ entries from 19 schools across Stevenage!
The judging panel had a tough task on their hands, as the quality of the artwork was exceptional. After much deliberation, the following talented children emerged as the winners! Their vibrant creations will soon be featured as part of a stunning new display at the Martins Way/Hitchin Road roundabout underpasses—bringing colour and creativity to the heart of our community.
This spring, there will be a special unveiling event to celebrate their amazing work, offering everyone a chance to admire the new artwork and capture some memorable photos.
Year 1
Joshua and Charis
Year 2
Alistair, Alayna, Oscar and Bella
Year 3
Giselle, Emilia F, Oliver and Joshua S
Year 4
Lamis, Alma, Charlie, HM, Cara, Gabby, Sanaa, Inaya and Teddy T.
Year 5
Owen P, Malaika, Kunashe, Aaruhi and Georgia
Year 6
Jessica R
Congratulations to Joshua who has won our school competition set by GM Groups: Create a poster about road safety.
Joshua created a wonderful poster which will be posted on every van belonging to the company. The vans will be travelling around the UK.
Year 3 have been studying art work by Andy Warhol. They designed and created their own print.
Year 6 studied the work of Kasushika Hokusai and recreated his painting 'The Great Wave.'
Year 1 enjoyed learning about dots with their new artist. The children painted fruit and vegetables and included dots.
Nursery have been busy using art in many different media this term. We used vegetables for printing, made repeating patterns produced beautiful leaf collages, made salt dough decorations, made 3D hedgehogs and had a wonderful time colour mixing.
Year 6 JMW Turner
Year 6 created their own watercolour landscapes in the style of JMW Turner.
Year 4 learnt about the blue period and rose period of Picasso's art work. They then drew a self portrait and recreated their own versions of the blue and rose periods.
Year 1 created patterns for dinosaur skin, made their design and printed the skin onto large dinosaurs.
Year 3 linked their art learning to history this week and focused upon Stone Age cave paintings. They began by exploring cave paintings and then created their own pieces.
Year 5 looked at the style of artists Kara Walker and Edward Bauden. They designed their own images inspired by said artists, which could be used to show negative and positive prints. Finally, they all used their prints to create a piece of wrapping paper.
Year 2 investigated the artist Lucy Arnold's work on pattern and colour. She paints beautiful pictures of insects and arachnids- we used her work as an inspiration for our sculptures.
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This week Year 3 completed their art unit: observational art. First, they explored different grades of pencils and then began to draw different objects. Year 3 were thrilled to meet Annie O'Brien who brought examples of her GCSE and A-Level art work in and talked to them about her inspirations and the different techniques which she had used.
Tihomir " Her art work was amazing and I now want to be an artist."
Finally, the children explored local artist Sarah Graham's art work and produced a final piece in the same style.
Year 6 Hokusai: The Wave
Year 5 Art in the style of David Hockney
Year 4 Artwork inspired by the Ancient Egyptians
Year 2 The Great Fire of London
Year 3 have spent the Spring Term exploring the life and art work of Andy Warhol. They produced a final piece, using printing, inspired by Andy Warhol.
Year 1 made learnt about German artist Durer and his rhino skin printing. We made our own prints for dinosaur skin!
Year 2 looked at different textile and print designers as part of their learning about pattern. They tried to continue patterns and prints by Zandra Rhodes, William Morris and Cath Kidston. Finally they designed their own print pattern and recreated it using painting software.
Year 6 have been looking at the work of JMW Turner and experimenting with watercolour paint. They researched Turner and commented on their favourite piece. The children experimented with different brushstrokes and tone to create their own Turner-inspired watercolour landscapes in school.
Year 3 linked their history learning with their art learning. The children explored Stone Age Cave painting and then produced their own.
Year 4 have been looking at the artwork of Antoni Gaudi this half term. They looked at how Gaudi used nature to create his sculptures and architecture. They experimented with marbling and created some amazing pieces of work which they then used, along with tissue, felt, paint and wool, to create a final collage landscape.
Year 3 explored observational drawing. They started by exploring different grades of pencils and chalks and pastels. They then started drawing different objects and focused upon creating a 3D shape. Year 3 then explored the local artist, Sarah Graham and produced a piece of artwork based on her sweet creations. They found it very hard not to eat the sweets which they were drawing!
Well done to some of our winners, who created some wonderful portraits of people that inspire them!
Year 1 created some wonderful pictures based on their artist. They focused on dots, tone and colour.
This term, Year 3 have been exploring the work of Andy Warhol. To complete the unit they produced their own prints inspired by his art work.
Nursery have been thinking about colours and used 'cold colours' to produce these beautiful paintings.
Year 1 created dinosaur skin patterns and printed them using acrylic paints.
Year 3 have been leaning about the Stone Age in history. During their art lessons, they explored Stone Age cave paintings and had a go at creating their own using different media.
Year 4 experimented with mixing different shades and tones of blue as part of their learning on Picasso's Blue Period.
Year 6 have been looking at the work of JMW Turner and experimenting with watercolour paint. They researched Turner and commented on their favourite piece as part of their home learning and created their own Turner-inspired watercolour landscapes in school.
Year 5 have been experimenting with block printing using positive and negative reliefs when creating patterns in polystyrene tiles. They also learned about American printer and silhouettist, Kara Walker.
Creative Crew Mural
The creative crew worked with Mrs Spendlove and Mrs Murrill to create a mural in our new learning lodge. It features silhouettes of the creative crew holding balloons that spell out our school PRIDE values: perseverance, resilience, independence, determination and enjoyment.
Trotts Hill Art Exhibition
During Spring term Trotts Hill hosted an Art exhibition. Children's work was framed and displayed, and was available for parents to purchase. It was a very exciting experience for everyone involved and the children were very proud to share their work with our whole school community.
Year 6 have been studying Henry Moore and we have sketched, designed and built our own sculptures as a result.
Year 2 created their own 3D insects using new clay.
The children explored the art work of local artist Sarah Graham and then explored different techniques ready to create their own observational drawings.
Spring Term Year 6 Painting and Hokusai
Year 6 have produced beautiful watercolour paintings this term in the style of Hokusai.
Spring Term Year 5 Texture and David Hockney
Year 5 have been using bright and bold colours to create landscape paintings in the style of David Hockney.
Spring Term Year 4 Egyptian Art
Children in Year 4 have been using clay to make some fantastic Egyptian inspired pots, linked to their Ancient Egyptians history topic.
The children in Year 3 have explored the art work created by Andy Warhol. They then produced their own, using printing, for the school art display.
Spring Term Year 2 The Great Fire of London
Year 2 have been producing some fantastic Art linked to their Great Fire of London topic in History. They have focused on creating different tones of colours as a background and have added collage over the top to create a fiery city scene.
Spring Term Year 1 Hans Holbein and Portraits
This term Year 1 have been looking at Portraits and learning about the artist Hans Holbein. We have been making our own portraits using a variety of different media including pencils, paints, watercolours and oil pastels.
Autumn Term Year 6 Henry Turner and Watercolour Painting
This term Year 6 have been using watercolours to create landscape paintings in the style of Turner. They have been focusing on the use of blending and colour.
Autumn Term Year 5, Kara Walker and Printing
This term Year 5 have been looking at American artist Kara Walker. They made beautiful silhouettes for their cover page, and created their own prints using polystyrene tiles.
Year 4 Autumn Term, Picasso
Year 4 have been learning about Picasso this term, and have made colourful, abstract self-portraits in his style.
Autumn Term Year 3, Stone Age Art
This term Year 3 have linked their Art to their History topic about the Stone Age. They have been producing some fantastic cave paintings using different media.
Year 2 Autumn Term, Pattern and William Morris
This term, Year 2 have been exploring pattern, and have used oil pastels to produce some beautiful work extending patterns out of a photo.
Year 1 Autumn Term: Colour and Pattern
This term Year 1 have been exploring colour and pattern. We have also been looking at the work of artist Yayoi Kusama, who uses dots to produce amazing paintings and sculptures. We have been experimenting with adding dots to photos and pictures, and finished our unit by making our own 3D dotty pumpkin sculptures.
The children at Trotts Hill have had some fantastic, inspiring opportunities in Arts Week this year! KS2 have taken part in workshops with Ella Wheway - the Assistant Stage Manager for Only Fools and Horses the Musical in the West End. Ella spent time discussing her career in the Arts with the children - which involves making props to use in shows. Children in Year 3 and 4 learnt how to make prop ice cream using mashed potato to stop it from melting! Children in Years 5 and 6 learnt how to make maps look old by staining them with tea and coffee.
All children at Trotts Hill have also been painting a pebble to create a whole school display in our wellbeing area, as well as taking part in drama workshops with Mr Driver, and performing songs and dances.
Year 1 worked as a team to decorate a dinosaur by printing patterns using polystyrene tiles that they had created.
This term Year 4 are looking at Ancient Egyptian Art, as well as learning about Alaa Awad - a contemporary Egyptian graffiti artist.
This term Year 5 have been exploring tone and looking at work created by Georgia O'Keefe. They experimented with created different shades of one colour and tried sketching in the style of Georgia O'Keefe.
As part of their home learning, Year 2 made houses out of recyclable materials to represent the houses from the time period of The Great Fire of London.
Year 2 have been investigating patterns linked to nature and created their own patterns based on Kassou Seydou.
Year 1 have been producing pieces of work inspired by Yayoi Kusama. After viewing pictures of her work and discussing her life as an artist, they used watercolours to make their own dotty paintings.
