Art

Extra-Curricular Activities

• GCSE and A Level trips to extend understanding of the subjects.
• Competitions during the year.

Key Stage 3

What are the knowledge and skills that students will gain over Key Stage 3?
Pupils will be taught to use a range of techniques to record their observations in sketchbooks, and other media as a basis for exploring their ideas, they will use a range of techniques and understand how to use drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques to create work. Students will learn to analyse and evaluate their own work, and that of others using the language of art, craft and design. They will be taught how to research the history of art, architecture, styles and major movements through the ages up to the present day.

Why is it delivered in this way?
Students are taught through project based work that use the visual elements of line,tone, colour, pattern, texture, shape and form. This is to increase their proficiency in the handling of different materials to produce work.
In Year 7 students will create work through projects titled Experimental Drawing, Under the Sea and Exhibition Bag.
In Year 8 students will create work through projects titled Artist Themed Portraits, Mexican Day of the Dead Masks and Identity Portraits.

Key Stage 4

Course title: Edexcel GCSE in Art and Design 

What are the knowledge and skills that students will gain over Key Stage 4?
There are two units that make up the award for GCSE Fine Art. The content of the portfolio will be determined by the particular requirements and nature of the course of study undertaken. There is no restriction on the scale of work, media or materials used. Each student must select and present a portfolio together with their externally set assignment. The work must include both and evidence of drawing and annotation.

• Students work in response to a subject, theme, task or brief evidencing the journey from initial engagement with an idea(s) to the realisation of intentions. This will give students the opportunity to demonstrate, through an extended creative response, their ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skills and/or understanding from across their course of study.
• Students develop work resulting from activities such as trials and experiments; skills-based workshops; mini and/or foundation projects; responses to gallery, museum or site visits; work placements; independent study and evidence of the student’s specific role in any group work undertaken.
• The externally set assignment provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate, through an extended creative response, their ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skills and/or understanding in response to their selected starting point. The extended creative response must explicitly evidence students’ ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skill and/or understanding from initial engagement with their selected starting point through to their realisation of intentions in the 10 hours of supervised time.

Why is it delivered in this way?
Each student must select and present a portfolio together with their externally set assignment as their submission for GCSE. The work must include evidence of drawing and annotation.
The students work on projects that build skills through the use of the visual elements (colour, tone, pattern, texture, shape and form) with a variety of media that include the following: drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, clay and other 3D materials. They develop work by responding to artists and photographer contextually. This work forms the foundations of their portfolio submission.

The portfolio projects develop the skills they require to enable them to embark on the externally set assignment, which is an independent exam board directed project where students select a title from a paper published in January of Year 11.

Sixth Form

Course title: Edexcel GCE A level in Art and Design 

What are the knowledge and skills that students will gain over Key Stage 5?
A’ Level Art and Design is made up of two components.
Component 1 Portfolio The contents of the portfolio will be determined by the title students select The emphasis of this component will be on the development of understanding and skills using an appropriate range of materials, processes and techniques. Students should produce a collection of materials that exemplifies work carried out during the course. Each student must include in their portfolio which includes a selection of thoughtfully presented work, demonstrating the breadth and depth of their course of study This should demonstrate the student’s ability to sustain work from an initial starting point to a realisation. It should include evidence of their ability to research and develop ideas and link their work in a meaningful way to relevant critical/contextual materials resulting in an essay. Research from books, journals, moving images, photographs, digital presentations and the internet, as well as studies made during, gallery or museum visits. Work should be presented in sketchbook and as outside pieces. Students should carefully select, organise and present work to ensure that they provide evidence of meeting all four assessment objectives. All the work submitted for this component will be marked as a whole. Students must identify and acknowledge sources which are not their own.
Component 2 Externally Set Assignment Students must select from a separate question paper set by the exam board. The paper will consist of a choice of five questions to be used as starting points. Students will be provided with examination papers on or as soon as possible after the 1 February. They then complete a project where they carefully select, organise and present work to ensure that they provide evidence of meeting all four assessment objectives, this includes 15 hours examination to complete a final outcome. This makes up the remaining 40%.

Why is it delivered in this way?
Students complete a skills building unit that allows them to understand processes, techniques, and a range of media and materials to give them a foundation on which to build through their portfolio project. At the beginning of February Year 12 students are given a list of titles from which they choose one to complete a major portfolio project. They choose from the titles listed below:
Hidden, Flaws and Perfection, Transformation, Create and Destroy, Out of Place, Truth, Fantasy or Fiction, Patterns of Life, Discarded, Urban Decay, Snapshot Moments. This is an independent and individual project that will be supported by tutorials.
Students need to show a wide range of materials and techniques within their work. The essay needs to be between 1500 and 3000 work and must have references, bibliography and images.
From February in year 13, students will work on the externally set assignment completely independently.