Art

Learning hero image graphic

Curriculum Design

at West Didsbury CE Primary School


Art is far more than a series of technical skills. Our holistic curriculum nurtures creative thinking skills and helps ensure pupils learn through art, as well as about art.

The AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum provides the basis of our 7-year art curriculum. It is knowledge-rich, and pupils will learn a wide range of skills, developing understanding and showing clear progression. Crucially, the knowledge and understanding pupils will build will go far beyond just technical, factual knowledge.

Our curriculum balances declarative knowledge with experiential knowledge, building self-knowledge and nurturing traits in learners which will hold them in good stead whichever direction their learning takes them.


Art is taught in alternate half-terms. Within each year, we have planned a balance between the development of skills in the main artform areas and with a variety of media. From Reception to Year 6, children will continually develop their understanding of drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking and collage. We also have an enrichment week in the Summer term where children explore different art forms using natural materials.  The plans for each year build on prior knowledge and skills:

  Autumn Spring Summer Eco Week
Reception Drawing & Painting
Self Portraits
Sculpture
Under the Sea Creatures
Yayoi Kusama
Painting, Printing, & Collage
Butterflies
Eric Carle
Sculpture
Bug Hotels
Year 1 Drawing
Spirals
Molly Haslund & Kandinsky
Drawing & Sculpture
Birds
Darrell Wakelam
Printing, Drawing & Painting
Self Portraits
Paul Klee & Emma Burleigh
Collage
Mixed Materials
Yuken Teruya
Year 2 Painting
Expressionism
Marela Zacarias & Charlie French, Van Gogh & Cezanne.
Sculpture & Painting
Clay Pottery
Clarice Cliff
Drawing & Collage
Figures & Landscapes
Lowry & Anna Schmidt
Printing
Leaves
Andy Goldsworthy
Year 3 Drawing
Cave & Body Shapes
Laura McKendry & Edgar Degas
Collage & Printing
Exploring Shape & Colour
Matisse, Romare Bearden & Claire Willberg
Drawing & Sculpture
Wire Characters
Inbal Leitner, Rosie Hurley & Quentin Blake.
Printing
Recycled Blocks
William Morris
Year 4 Drawing
Manga Comics
Laura Carlin & Shaun Tan
Drawing & Sculpture
Still Life
Cezanne
Painting & Collage
Batik
Anna Blatman
Painting
Repurposed Fabrics
Hannah Rae & Alice Kettle
Year 5 Painting & Collage
Mixed Media Landscapes
Vanessa Gardiner & 'Urban Sketcher'
Drawing & Collage
Typography & Maps
Louise Fili, Grayson Perry, Paula Scher & Chris Kenny
Sculpture
Set Design
Printing, Sculpture & Collage
Monotypes
Kevork Mourad & Samuel Jessurun de Mosquita
Year 6 Drawing, Painting & Sculpture
2D to 3D
Lubaina Himid
Drawing, Painting & Sculpture
WW2 portraits
Henry Moore
Painting, Drawing & Collage
Self Portraits
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Yinka, Shonibare & Thandiwe Muriu
Drawing & Sculpture
Wire Insects
Kate Kato

 

The AccessArt Primary Art Curriculum is supported by a series of ‘Talking Points’ resources, carefully curated to introduce teachers and pupils to a wide variety of artists, designers and craftspeople from across the world.

We study artists, designers and craftspeople not so we can make copies or pastiches of their style, but so we can learn from the way they see the world.

In addition to delivering the national curriculum, we offer lunchtime and after school art clubs for children to pursue and develop their own particular interests and styles. We’re regularly  involved with local art galleries and networks to showcase the fabulous work that our pupils create.

grass background layer