Art and Design

Subject Lead: Mrs Mussenden

Leonardo Da Vinci - the inspiration and their art work

Edgar Degas - the inspiration and their art work

Salvador Dali - the inspiration and their art work

Art in Action

July 2026

Sunnymede recently held a vibrant art gallery exhibition during its Display Evening, showcasing pupils' creative Take One Picture work with The National Gallery. This year the painting was 'A Muse (Calliope?) by Cosimo Tura. Families were invited to explore the impressive collection of artwork, which highlighted the imagination, skill, and artistic development of the students. The exhibition featured a range of colourful and expressive pieces, with pupils interpreting the theme in their own unique ways. The children were praised for the high standard of work on display and enjoyed seeing the creativity and effort that had gone into each piece. The gallery was a highlight of the evening, celebrating pupils' achievements and providing an opportunity for the school community to appreciate the talents of its young artists. The event reflected Sunnymede's commitment to encouraging creativity and fostering a love of the arts among its pupils.

June 2026

We were delighted that a group of Year 5 pupils took part in the Royal Academy of Arts Young Artists’ Summer Show this year. Although their artwork was not selected for the final exhibition, the children showed great creativity, enthusiasm and commitment throughout the process. Entering such a prestigious national competition was a wonderful opportunity, and we are incredibly proud of their effort, imagination and willingness to share their work. Well done to all of the pupils who took part!

February 2026

During Art's Week, the school focused on Take One Picture with The National Gallery. This year the painting was ‘A Muse (Calliope?)’ by Cosimo Tura. Each year group had their own way of introducing the image and then explored different paths.

EYFS - were interested in the throne that she was sitting on and made their own throne in the role play area. They then developed their fine motor skills to create a throne collage using scrunching and ripping techniques. In maths, they used shapes to create their own thrones.

Year 1 - In science, the children had been investigating different materials. The children were keen to discuss the different materials in the painting. They used language such as soft, rich, dark, light, shiny, smooth, colourful and fluffy. They developed their cutting skills to create a collage using the rich colours in the painting. In maths, they created their own thrones using 2D shapes. In computing, they used a paint program to manipulate shapes to also create their own thrones.

Year 2 - also thought about the throne she was sitting on. They used magazines and collected different materials around the school to experiment making different printing marks. They then designed their own thrones, thinking about what influences them including their interests and favourite colours. Finally using the printed marks and magazines, they crated a collaged throne for their modern day muses, before adding a photo of themselves. In maths, they created their own thrones using 3D shapes and symmetry. This wasn't as easy as it sounds!

Year 3 & 4 investigated the creature behind Callioppe and researched mythical beasts. In English, Year 4 had been learning about Beowolf and made this comparison. They then designed their own creatures using different art skills. Year 3 wanted to use pastels and used contrasting colours to create patterns and textures. Year 4 used watercolours. Some used warm colours to show their creature was friendly, whilst dark colours made their creatures appear powerful or dangerous.

Year 5 developed their understanding of feelings and emotions by making inferences about the Muse's posture and hand gestures and explored emotions through drama. In English, they were learning to include feelings through action in their narratives so this helped them. They then compared different artists and used cross-hatching in the style of Leonardo Da Vinci to draw their own hands.

Year 6 - looked at Greek mythology to broaden their understanding of gods, goddesses and muses. They then discussed what a modern day muse might look like and what symbols would represent these. They were very creative; there was a muse of sport, a muse of gaming and even a muse of science!

January 2026

On Saturday 31st January, six children in year 5 were chosen as finalists for the Primary Schools’ Art Exhibition - an inspiring new event designed to celebrate and showcase the artistic talent and creativity of children from our local schools at the Brentwood School. It was an extremely difficult decision as there were so many wonderful entries! Mrs Mussenden, Miss King and the children alongside their families arrived and the competition was very high. The 4 categories, which the entries were judged on were: Interpretation of the theme; creativity and uniqueness; drawing/recording skills and links to other artists’ work. We were so impressed with all the children, who talked so confidently to the judges about their artwork - you were all superstars! We won three prizes overall! Congratulations to Seren, who won 'Interpretation of the Theme'. The judges loved her concept and thought it was very meaningful. She also made fantastic links to other artists. Haobo received a commendation as he spoke so well about his ideas and his work. They loved the links to Munch and thought his art was very effective (we also loved his matching jumper!) Finally, Tabitha was overall winner of the whole contest! The judges were so impressed with the creativity of her life-size turtle and thought it was the coolest artwork ever! They loved the artists links and how striking it was. It was such an amazing morning and we are all so proud of them all.

January 2026

In year 6, we have been investigating different media and techniques to recreate a collage landscape with a sense of movement.

Can you see the different materials and textures?

September 2025

In year 4, we have been learning about the Anglo-Saxons and this has linked to our art unit. We created these amazing pinch pots out of clay using some technical (and fiddly) techniques.

Progression of painting across the years

Year 3 investigate primary, secondary and tones of colour. They apply this knowledge to create a colour painting which is inspired by Robert and Sonia Delaunay. They learn about different sized brushes and the effect this has.

Year 4 use tempera paint to paint their Egyptian profiles. They mix the colours to create different hues, control the amount of water needed and select an appropriate paintbrush.

Year 5 create abstract space art in the style of Peter Thorpe. They learn a range of brush strokes and apply these to create their own inspired piece. They incorporate other media, such as pastels and chalk.

Progression of drawing across the years

At Sunnymede Junior School, in order for our pupils to develop proficiency in drawing, we have designed a curriculum which revisits and builds upon prior drawing skills. Specific drawing techniques are introduced in different year groups while others are recapped in order to support retention. Below, you can see examples of sketching within each year group.

Year 3

Year 5

Year 4

Year 6

Virtual art galleries

Visiting an art gallery is an amazing experience as you can see fascinating pieces of art, read the stories behind the art work and stand within the wonders of incredible buildings. Below are links to virtual galleries to help have this experience from the comfort of your own home!

National Gallery, London

Louvre, Paris

Vatican Museum, Vatican City

Art and design in action

Winter Art Morning 2025

In November, Sunnymede completed their first themed art morning as a primary school! Inspired by the beauties of winter, we all used water colour to create a wintery landscape. Across the year groups, we used different techniques, skills and media to create our scene. We explored the use of colour, the effect of water and the movement of brushes within our pieces.

Have a look at some of our art work. Which techniques can you see? Which media has been used? Which piece is your favourite and why?

Year 3

Today has been a busy day. We started our weaving. Everyone had to concentrate really hard and remember the over and under technique. There were lots of instructions to follow and the children learnt that sometimes things take a long time....but the end result is worth it! We hope you like them when the children bring them home for Christmas! Here were are working hard to create them today.

In year 3, we have been studying three artists who print their work: Andy Warhol, Schatzi Brown and William Morris. We created our own design and then drew it on a polystyrene tile. It was then time to use rollers to print our own design.

Year 3

In our art lessons, we have been learning about mosaics. We compared Roman mosaics with the more modern Gaudi mosaics, then manipulated and rolled clay to create our own mosaic tile. When they were dry, we used our brush stroke skills from last term and painted our tiles. What do you think?

YEAR 3

We have also been busy painting. We learnt about skills in painting; looking at different brush strokes, how to make secondary colours and how to create different tones of colour. We then studied different paintings by Robert and Sonja Delaunay and tried to recreate our own versions of their paintings. What do you think?

Which colours are primary?

How have we created our secondary colours?

Year 4

As historians, we have been learning about the Anglo Saxons. In art, we have also studied Anglo Saxon pottery design and then used clay to bring our on ideas to life.

We also planned out our ideas first in our sketch books.

We used craft tools to add our designs.

During multicultural week, Year 4 used soft pastels to imitate the African Savannah with their own choice of African animal in the foreground.

YEAR 5

In art, we have been looking at the artists Kate Spencer and Romero Britto and recreating their designs, using paint. Also, we have been developing our sewing skills to make a cushion with embellishments. We learnt how to do backstitch, satin stitch, short and long stitch and the french knot.

For our winter art morning, year 5 created a sunset or sunrise using watercolours in the background. In the foreground, we experimented painting different alpine trees. Finally, we used a splatter technique for a snow effect.

Year 6

In art, we have been creating sculptures in the style of Ancient Greek athletes. Firstly, we drew the human body, considering proportion, and then we used wire and plaster to make the sculptures. Using the plaster was quite messy work but we managed to smooth the plaster in order to make our sculpture stable. Some of us were able to make our athlete stand freely!

Year 6 have been practising collage techniques and have created their own landscape collages.

During multicultural week, to help understand the culture of the Mauri tribe, we looked at the jewellery they had and what it symbolised. Inspired by this, we used clay to create our own pieces. Can you see any similarities and differences between the pieces?

Page updated

Report abuse