We value all art and when someone is in art they are an artist and a thinker. We want students to experience art not just from the western traditions but from all over the world from Ancient civilisations to contemporary Art practice in its many modes and disciplines. We want students to become conversant with the way all artworks are made of the visual elements of line, colour, pattern, texture, tone, shape and form. We want to equip students with the ability to think and question critically about art and artworks they will experience. Students are encouraged to talk about Art in class discussions as often as possible.
Art should impact across the curriculum, enriching students experience of their other subjects, bringing critical thinking and learning from Art to those subjects and vice versa. We want students to leave KS3 with a wider understanding of how Artists change our ways of seeing and understanding our place in the world.
Knowledge and understanding - Art, movements, artefacts and artist's work within the project context.
Ideas - Demonstration of how a student uses drawing, writing, experimentation with materials to develop and refine ideas.
Making - How a student shows control of technique, process and manipulation as they execute their ideas.
Evaluating - How a student demonstrates critical understanding of relevant art and context and use of terminology to evaluate their own outcomes.
We aim to provide a dynamic learning environment for all student abilities. From the outset, students are taught to learn from mistakes and dispel the mindset that they are “not good at Art.” Instead, they are encouraged to be an Art student rather than a student of Art, treating the Art room more as a studio than a classroom. All students are asked to openly question art and artists’ practice, starting with the varied Art room display. The Art curriculum is designed to equipment students with the necessary motor and thinking skills needed to build confidence in their making, develop ideas and find their “visual voice.”
The department offers a weekly Art club for students to engage with and experiment with materials and processes learned in lesson or new approaches that the curriculum does not allow for. Visiting Artists are periodically brought in to deliver exciting and engaging workshops around a theme/issue that promotes contemporary Art practice. There are termly trips at KS4 to further enrich the projects taught at KS4.
The four pillars of learning are Knowledge (in which Art History and Contemporary Art are taught in equal measure), ideas, making and evaluation. Students are encouraged to be as creative as possible in using materials and finding a personal mode of expression that is culturally relevant to them.
Students are opened up to all the Fine Art disciplines: Drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed-media, land art, lens-based, sculpture, performance and installation. Drawing as an expressive, analytical and investigative medium is taught throughout. The course is designed to enable students to develop ideas using media and processes that they eventually self-select. From the outset they are taught to critically analyses artworks, artists practice and movements to a much more in-depth level as a way of increasing their critical awareness, record their progress to articulate verbally and written how they justify their decisions leading to their outcomes, including how the work should be exhibited. Trips are important for students to record and understand artworks firsthand as well as being encouraged to visit exhibitions independently.
In the mock exam and final 10 hour exam students have the opportunity to work in controlled condition to test their ability to work to a deadline or with limited time and constraints. These conditions are designed to prepare them for A level.