Art

Overview

Introduction

We believe art has an important role to play in both education and the wider world, helping to nurture students social and cultural development. Through art, we aim to provide a wide, varied and engaging curriculum where we can explore and celebrate the diverse society in which we all live. We aim to develop students' creativity and curiosity through inspiring experiences where they feel both challenged and supported, encouraging students to take risks and ask questions. We pride ourselves on a curriculum that is ambitious for all, striving for all students to leave lessons with a sense of pride and achievement.

Course leader

Mrs T Rimmington

Curriculum

Course content

Our focus at key stage 3 begins with high quality lessons which focus around developing a wide variety of techniques that will allow students to develop skills using a variety of media. Building expertise in these skills will provide students with a solid foundation to progress onto GCSE Art if they wish to do so.

Through a varied curriculum, students will explore a wide range of art and artists to inspire and inform the creative process. Students will be expected to develop written analysis techniques to understand and question how art is made and why art looks the way it does. Practical techniques taught are observational drawing, colour work, painting, printing and 3D modelling skills using clay. Throughout key stage 3 we teach students skills that help them to build their confidence. This then supports them to be able to develop ideas whilst being explorative and experimental. Through the curriculum we hope to nurture independence, encouraging students to have a 'can do' attitude and a positive, resilient mindset. We also seek to offer students a variety of opportunities to extend their learning and achievement beyond the classroom.

We have three main aims:

• To develop personal and transferable skills through creativity, problem solving, research and analysis.
• To develop a broad range of artistic skills and contextual understanding of different artists and art styles, providing students with a solid foundation to achieve highly at GCSE if they wish to study art further.
• To explore a range of social, moral and cultural themes through art.

Topics

The projects taught in the key stage 3 curriculum are:

• Year 7: insects project, African art, Yayoi Kusama flowers project
• Year 8: pencil observational study of a shoe, large scale oil pastel eye study, mixed media artist portrait study and abstract project
• Year 9: issue based art pop art project, visual lyrics project and angels and gargoyles project.

Skills and requirements

Skills developed

Skills are developed in the three areas:

• Research and analysis: in Years 7-9, students develop their research and analysis skills through written and verbal analysis of their own work and the work of various artists.
• Skills and techniques: students work independently in a range of materials, including observational drawing, painting, sculpture and mixed media.
• Ideas and creativity: students are asked to combine their knowledge of the artist's work and display their own skills by producing a personal response to the different theme or topics.