Art, Design and Photography

Learning in Art and Design

The aim of the Art and Design department is to individually nurture creativity in our students so that they can produce their own varied, sensitive and personal work, dealing with the many issues that our students are fascinated by. The teaching and learning in the department is based on teaching the individual, individually.

The joy of learning creative arts, crafts and design processes is a strength of our subject as it allows our students to engage in the multi-sensory approach that the many disciplines have to offer, creating a bespoke curriculum for each student, based on their ability.

Curriculum Intent

The Art and Design department transforms students’ lives by enabling them to develop a deeper cultural understanding through learning about art and visual language and by doing so, becoming more aware about the world around them by questioning all that they see. The rise of technology and social media has resulted in a wealth of images available at an instant. Equipping our students with the tools needed to make sense of the many images they see, and mastering their visual literacy, are essential to their growth as members of society and will inform the decisions that they make in their lives. The role art plays in the development of an individual’s understanding of empathy and emotional awareness is critical to the teaching of our students, educating our students to become emotionally intelligent people.  Our cultural capital promotes equality within our teaching of Art and Design, ensuring that diversity is represented in their education to develop their individuality, and be caring and sensitive towards others, as well as develop our students to become independent thinkers.

KS3, Years 7, 8 & 9 Art and Design

The Art and Design curriculum in Year 7, 8 and 9 introduces students to a wide variety of artists and techniques to build their subject knowledge in preparation for Year 10 and 11. With all studied artists and designers, the department focuses on guiding students on how to use research purposefully. Students are taught particular skills that the artists have used whilst they understand the critical and contextual background to the artist’s work. Learning the “hows and whys” behind an artist’s work gives our students the relevance and purpose of the work of others and an understanding of how they can apply these ideas to their own work. Understanding the intentions of artists’ work and developing original, personal thought is at the core of our teaching as it embeds long term knowledge and skills in order to access the higher criteria in Key Stage 4 qualifications.

KS4, Year 10 & 11 GCSE Art, Craft and Design

The GCSE course covers a range of activities and in-depth assignments. Students will have the opportunity to experiment with a variety of media in order to explore their strengths and preferences. Whatever they choose, the main aim of the course is for students to develop their visual language skills a personal portfolio of work to progress to further courses or employment. They will have the opportunity to specialise in one discipline of their preference after being introduced to many processes and approaches through workshops or work in a variety of art practices such as fine art painting, sculpture, textiles, photography, drawing, collage and many more processes and materials that are on offer to them.

Teachers within the department lead workshops to empower the students with many skills. As students develop towards their own self initiated bodies of work in Year 11, they will be guided to enabling entry to an Apprenticeship, employment or progression to related higher education courses.

The qualification provides opportunities for learners to develop communication skills needed for working in the art and design sector as they progress through the course. This can be achieved through presentations and in discussions where they have the opportunity to express their opinions. It brings together learning.

Frequent, internal standardisation meetings between all staff and student books offer the chance for every student to have targets created by more than one member of staff, utilising more subject specialisms and knowledge of the art world and providing our students with an ever broader curriculum.

Assessment

What is assessed?

  • GCSE students entered for 2021 will submit 100% course work to obtain a GCSE certificate for this academic year.

How it’s assessed: Internally standardised by staff within the department across both components and then externally moderated by Pearsons our exam board.

Careers:

British Values in Art and Design

Democracy

Democracy features in a number of schemes of work as students are taught the historical and cultural aspects of the artist who has created the piece of work, taking in to account the dates and location of the piece of work.

Rule of Law

Rule of Law is taught across a number of schemes of work including: Street Art: Personal Spaces and/or Public Places, where Year 9 students learn about street art, graffiti, censorship and ownership.

Tolerance

Throughout the 9 themes in KS3, in KS4 and KS5 multiple artists are taught per scheme of work, giving students a comparison to artwork created by historical and contemporary artists, enabling students to be taught about artists of different cultures, race, gender, faith and sexuality.

Individual liberty

Individual liberty and mutual respect can be seen through the analysis of all art and design work. Students question and interpret work to formulate their own opinions resulting in their verbal and in written outcomes.

Mutual respect

Through questioning and in their own reflections, students are taught to empathise with others’ intentions and circumstances. This is evident in the teaching of student responses amongst peers, allowing student discussion to take place and to appreciate each others’ opinions.

Useful Links

Images

Links

Oak Academy

Art & Design lessons for Key Stage 3 students - Oak National Academy (thenational.academy)

National Portrait Gallery

Learn - National Portrait Gallery (npg.org.uk)

BBC Bitezie

In Pictures | Latest News & Updates | BBC News

Carousel Learning

https://www.carousel-learning.com/

Access Art

Free To Access Resources (accessart.org.uk)

 

Further Reading

Images

Links

The Art Book for Children

by Amanda Renshaw, Gilda Williams Ruggi

Art A Children’s Encyclopedia

by David Taylor, Susie Hodge

Women in Art: 50 Fearless Creatives Who Inspired the World Hardcover

by Rachel Ignotofsky

Animation Sketchbooks

by Laura Heit

Art Matters: Because Your Imagination Can Change the World Hardcover

by Neil Gaiman (Author), Chris Riddell (Illustrator)