Art

“Imagination is the working stuff of creativity and this is the bridge to innovation”

This year, students at A Level achieved 57% A* - A working in film, photography, graphics, sculpture, and fine art painting - all gaining entry onto prestigious art institutions. 

 

OUR AIM

The Art and Design curriculum aims to foster creativity through the analysis of art and ideas and equip students with the necessary core skills in art, craft and design, so students can realise their own creative intentions. 

We aim to produce fully independent art practitioners, with the confidence to discuss ideas and concepts and to use materials in an analytical, expressive and conceptual ways. We develop the students' visual awareness by fostering an environment of observation and purposeful play and subsequent critical reflection, where students can develop their own art practice. 

We firmly believe everybody is creative, that we can nurture talent and support all students to find their creative voice through a progressive and flexible curriculum. 

It is our fundamental belief that we offer the students a truly creative education - to teach creativity we need to teach creatively.
 

HOW

The Art curriculum is based around a series of thematic frameworks that allows space for students to explore and investigate the work of others, understand the formal elements of art and art-making through a broad range of media, scale and dimensions.

We do not have a house style nor a prescriptive way of making – this is governed by students understanding of artwork and their own personal response to art and wider societal concerns. Students are encouraged to think and make creative statements  - to produce visually effective work with confidence. Students are encouraged to take on the role of artists and designers, making use of guided and self-originated strong contextual references to develop their own ideas. We celebrate the big what if, try things out, experiment and see where it leads.

WE GIVE STUDENTS THE FREEDOM

•    to be resourceful, curious and creative
•    to engage with the world around them, preferably outside of the classroom
•    to work in a specific area of study related to own specialisms and strengths
•    respond to themes critically and with individuality
•    to be inventive in their experimentation
•    to engage with many starting points and possibilities
•    to foster and sustain their exploratory play.

THE ART CURRICULUM

•    Years 5 and 6 guided learning: three modules a year with the final module being a thematic exploration
•    Years 7 and 8: three modules, one guided set theme then two modules students explore thematically
•    Year 9 taught thematically and open ended as GCSE
•    Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 are taught thematically leading to the development of the student's own coursework interests and specialisms. Year 13, in addition, time is given to portfolio preparation for those students moving directly onto Art based degree course of study.