Introduction

Art and Design is one of our specialist subject areas, which means that we have a history of outstanding examination results in this subject! We believe with the right guidance and support all our students can achieve their true potential.

We pride ourselves on being able to cater to all student creative needs to identify different talents so that student’s skills and abilities are met. Many of our art students choose to move into creative fields within further education.

 

Intent

Our aims are to provide opportunities for students to:

  • Engage with a variety of art forms, to explore values, attitudes, feelings and meaning as well as develop key skills and abilities within the creative world.
  • To explore art history and develop the understanding of arts key roles in society.
  • Develop the ability to create, appreciate and make critical judgements about artworks.
  • Encourage students to work independently and in teams, to share arts experiences and present artworks to others.
  • Develop an understanding of the role of the arts in society, including as a career.
  • Increase active and independent involvement in cultural opportunities.

Implementation

Key stage 3:

Students in year 7 and 8 have Art each week. The key stage is divided into termly modules which cover a wide range of concepts, methods, materials and techniques covering topics such as; Still Life, Portraits, Landscapes, Space and Photoshop/graphic projects.

Year 9:

Year 9 has the opportunity to select either Art or Photography for their GCSE option.

This is an introduction year to the GCSE course to allow students to explore and gain insight ready to develop skilled coursework moving forwards into the GCSE years. Within the year students will delve deeper into all forms of art and photography including 3D sculpture, advance drawing/ painting and Photoshop skills.

Key Stage 4:

The courses that we offer are AQA Art and Design (Fine art) and AQA Photography.

Within the Art and Design (Fine art) endorsement students explore artists, artworks and develop the ability to create their own work using many different mediums. WE also have a strong link with the photography element and we incorporate photography within the art course.

In the photography endorsement we have a dedicated editing suite boasting a network of Apple iMacs. Students have the opportunity to work with iMovie and industry standard software such as Adobe InDesign and Photoshop.

AQA art endorsement course structure:

  • Component 1 (Coursework projects):

Component 1 consists of coursework based projects worth 60% of their final GCSE grade. Students will explore themes such as; Pop Art, Nature/ Environments, Portraiture and Close up.

  • Component 2 (Externally set assignment):

Component 2 consists of a 10 hour exam and exam coursework worth 40% of the overall GCSE grade. The exam paper is issue in January of each year. 

Impact

We want all of our students to achieve their full potential and become well rounded individuals.

We do this by using a range of materials and mediums, explore their own personal beliefs and feelings towards art and culture and we delve deep into the world of Art and Art history.

Our students enjoy the arts subjects, it is a calm and creative place for students to really be themselves.