The Endeavour Art Vision

Personal Empowerment

At Endeavour, we design our curriculum in ways that lead to children being able to actively participate in their lives. In Art and Design, by learning the knowledge and concepts that we have chosen to learn in detail, children learn to think critically. This prepares them to be active participants in their own lives. For example, repeatedly returning to the concepts of ‘Appreciation’, ‘Exploration’, ‘Technique’ and ‘Expression’ in increasingly complex ways develops transferable critical thinking. This critical thinking prepares children to make decisions about their lives and to access learning about any area of Art and Design with success in secondary school. 

Furthermore, Art and Design is a crucial component of our curriculum because it helps us to pass on the best that has been thought and known and to ensure that our children leave primary school with an expected amount of knowledge about the world. 

Cultural Transmission

At Endeavour, we design our curriculum in a way that ensures that we pass on the best that has been thought and known. In Art and Design, by developing fluency in the knowledge that we have identified should be developed fluently, we give our children important knowledge that empowers them to thrive. For example, we want our children to develop fluency in the following areas: 

• Drawing
• Colour
• Sculpture
• Printing

Beyond the understanding of domain knowledge and key concepts that we have chosen for our children to develop fluently, we also choose for our children to develop awareness of key artists that we believe are important for our children to have awareness of.

Preparation for Citizenship

At Endeavour, we design our curriculum in a way that prepares children to make informed decisions as members of a democratic society. In Art and Design, by developing fluent knowledge of and our chosen domains and key concepts (appreciation, technique, exploration and expression) we prepare our children to make informed decisions. For example, we know that children who can draw analytically will be more able to problem solve critically. Furthermore, we know that children who have developed fluent knowledge of the concept of ‘progress’ will be better prepared to take more risks and therefore get increasingly better at Art and Design.

In addition to empowering children to participate in their lives, giving the expected amount of knowledge and preparing children to make informed decisions, the Art and Design curriculum prepares children to thrive in the workplace.

Preparation for Work

At Endeavour, we design our curriculum in a way that prepares children for work. In Art and Design, by developing fluent knowledge of the domains and our chosen key concepts (appreciation, technique, exploration and expression) we prepare our children to succeed at work. We know that Art and Design develops transferable skills and that knowledge of the design process and our key concepts prepares children with mental models that can be applied to any industry. For example, developing knowledge of ‘expression’ prepares children to communicate visually in ways that prepares children to work in a range of industries.

When designing our curriculum, we ensure that we select knowledge and structure its implementation in ways that lead to personal empowerment, cultural transmission, preparation for citizenship and preparation for work. However, we also acknowledge that there exists the injustice of disadvantage and so we shape our curriculum around the core aim of tackling disadvantage.