Art and Design at Mendell Primary

Our approach to our curriculum at Mendell is based upon: Consistency Insistency Ambition

Art is a creative activity that expresses imagination or skill.

At Mendell Primary School, we believe that high-quality Art lessons and opportunities that will inspire children to think innovatively and creatively. Through their experiences, we want children to develop their skills, using a range of media and materials, and their knowledge about the styles and the works of a wide range of artists. We want children to be reflective of their own and others work and to have a growth mindset towards making changes and improving their work
Art and Design is a priority 2 subject in our curriculum redesign so will be focussed on more during 2022/23 academic year. For this academic year 2021/22, we will be following the highly recommended Oak National Academy scheme of lessons which were written in partnership with NSEAD (The National Society for Education in Art & Design).

Early Years and Art & Design

Our curriculum starts from EYFS and is progressive throughout Early Years, KS1, lower KS2, upper KS2 and beyond, which provides a secure foundation for learners across the school. Our Nursery class focus on the Prime Areas and start learning the skills of how to express, invent and create their own works of art, art and design. Further information for how this is built upon and is progressive can be seen on our progression map.

Continuous Provision activities are set up to provide an enriched learning environment for children to independently apply the skills and knowledge they learn to better express themselves in arts and design and develop the ‘Characteristics Of an Effective Learner’. Practitioners within the environment provide regular opportunities for children to independently explore and apply the knowledge and skills they have learnt for example activities where children can explore aspects like mark making or colour mixing using a range of media both in the inside and outside provision areas and activities where children can develop their fine motor skills using a range of artists tools.

Vocabulary and language development is key within our setting and our well-trained practitioners ask the children questions, role play with the children and model the vocabulary they want the children to understand and use throughout the day. Regular discussions about previous learning take place to help the children know more and remember more in all areas of ‘Development Matters 2020’.

To see how these are built up and are progressive year on year, please see our Art and Design long term plan and Art & Design progression map:

Art & Design Long Term Plan

Art & Design Progression Map

To see how these are integrated with other subjects, please see our whole school long term plan:

Whole School Long Term Plan

Opportunities to revisit learning. Essential core Art & Design knowledge has been identified and is revisited during ‘Flash Back Friday’ sessions. These are keeping skills session where we revisit core knowledge from across a range of subjects to commit to long term memory.