Intent

At Melbourne Junior School, we aim for all children to have a high-quality Art and Design education which inspires, excites and challenges them.

We want our pupils to be equipped with a range of skills and knowledge which will support them to experiment, invent and create works of art.

We aim for children to show respect for other artists and other cultures whist developing their evaluation skills. We aim to enable our children to have the confidence and the ability to express themselves through art and take pride in their work.

We also aim for the children to showcase their work and celebrate it within the school and local community, including our local art gallery.

Implementation

To implement our vision, children at Melbourne Junior School are provided with rich and inspiring Art and Design learning opportunities.  Through our units of work, the children become skilled in a variety of disciplines including painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles and printing.

Our children are taught to develop their techniques using these different media, including their control and use of materials, their confidence to be creative, their experimentation and evaluation. Children develop their knowledge of different kinds of art whilst practicing and refining their own artistic skills. We ensure that the skills that children have been taught in Lower School are developed and progressed upon in Upper School to provide progression of skills in all areas.

We examine the work of other artists, and we celebrate the artistic work from other cultures; we analyse and learn from it. Children at Melbourne Junior School also have the opportunity to work collaboratively with artists from the local community.  We showcase children’s wonderful pieces of work around our school.

The children use sketchbooks to evaluate the work of others, to create designs, to practice skills, to display their pieces of art and to evaluate their own work. These sketchbooks follow the children through the whole school to celebrate their learning journey.

We follow the National Programme of Study for Art and Design.

Impact

Our pupils are inspired by a range of artists and art. They have produced a range of high-quality pieces of art following a process of evaluation, design and experimentation.

They are equipped with skills and knowledge of using different materials, so they can make informed choices in their art and design, and they are prepared for their secondary education.

Children have developed their critical thinking. They value and respect the work of others and have developed a sensitive way of expressing likes and dislikes, using appropriate artistic vocabulary. Children have also built their resilience when faced with challenges and when faced with critical responses to their work.

Children are proud of their work when they see it displayed, and they have increasing confidence in Art and Design.