Art

To view our curriculum plans, please click the following:

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Year 12 Year 13

To view the Art Department Feedback Policy, please click here.

Intent

We aim to give all pupils opportunities to engage with high quality art experiences. Art is the expression of individual human experience and we see it as our responsibility to equip young people with the vocabulary, knowledge and practical skills to communicate their view and experiences of the world to others. Our Art Department must inspire and challenge all pupils to create works of Art, Craft and Design that they can be proud of; to approach the process of creation with resilience and curiosity. We aim to build increasingly autonomous learners who experiment with a sense of discovery. We aim to prepare pupils for careers in the ever-growing and changing creative industries and to give them the skills to be good citizens. They will learn of the important role Art and Design has had in shaping our history and how Art is the ideal forum to assimilate information and experiences from other subject areas and life experiences.

Modelling forms a key part of our delivery as we demonstrate each new skill in the classroom, as well as sharing best practice and exemplar work to set high expectations.

It is important to us that our learners develop the skills to function as independent creatives who know how to develop ideas, solve problems, make decisions, be reflective practitioners and create outcomes they are proud of. To this end we carefully scaffold each project to follow a sequence. This scaffold is repeated with increasing depth and challenge as pupils progress throughout KS3, 4 and 5. Our aim is that pupils will take greater ownership of their work and we gradually move from our roles as leaders and teachers to ultimately become facilitators and critical friends.

We aim to instill in our learners a sense of curiosity about the world around them and a sense of awe and wonder. To notice beauty in their lives and to appreciate the visual communication of another human being.

We celebrate effort and success through the use of displays and rewards postcards.

We maintain an open door policy were pupils are encouraged to use the art rooms at lunch and after school to continue with their school artwork or develop their own independent projects.

We seek out opportunities for competitions and displays outside of school to challenge our learners.

We make creative career pathways an integral part of our curriculum.

The scaffold of our curriculum is based around 6 key areas:

Gathering primary source work

We use photography and drawing to record observations in the world around us. Pupils are encouraged to be observant, to notice details in their world and gather source work from their own lives in order to personalize their work. By valuing primary source work over secondary we are encouraging our learners to develop their own ideas and create innovative and original work whose origins lie in their views and observations.

Research and Analysis

Each project will be linked to at least one artist, designer or culture. Research skills are taught in year 7 and built upon with increasing depth and complexity as learners progress throughout. Pupils are given ways into looking at artifacts. Their vocabulary is built upon. They are taught to express informed opinions. We value gallery based learning tasks and include these in our curriculum where ever possible to give pupils a tactile and real time experience of engaging with works of art in an increasingly digital and virtual world. We hope to familiarize young people with galleries and museums so they feel confident to engage with them outside of their school life and in the future.

Practical skills

Through observational drawing, we introduce the formal elements as building blocks for creating and talking about art and design when learners join us in year 7. We revisit those throughout the course and formally at the beginning of each year.

Each project will focus on a new skill or technique. Drawing will underpin each project as we revisit the use of the formal elements and refine our skills of observation. Drawing will be used and valued for different purposes. At the beginning of KS4 and 5 our learners take part in an intense skills rotation. Our aim is to equip our learners with a library of skills and techniques which they can draw upon to communicate their ideas visually in a skillful and effective way. Throughout the skills rotation we aim to stretch and challenge our students’ ways of seeing and creating. As students move through the different skills, they will find new strengths and refine existing ones, they form opinions and make judgements.

Reflective Practice

Through the use of sketchbooks, learners record the ‘story’ of their project from conception to realization. They document their ideas, observations, processes, experiments and discoveries. Learners are encouraged to evidence their mistakes and discuss how they are a step towards their goals. Annotation is used to rigorously share the evolution of each project, decision making along the way and to critically reflect on their own work. Key words and phrases are linked to each project and gradually build learners’ subject specific vocabulary. Using ‘What Works Well’ and ‘Even Better If’, learners are encouraged to be positive about their achievements while always striving for excellence.

Personal Response

Each project is teacher led at the start, echoing starting points at KS4 and 5 and ultimately preparing learners to respond to a brief as a professional. Then, as each project progresses, learners are encouraged to express their own opinions, gather their own observations of the world and create their own personal responses. They are supported to communicate their vision and ideas visually to an audience. Through discussion and annotation learners are encouraged to form opinions and articulate them to others through writing and talking. Learners are given the tools to express their individuality and view of the world.

Presentation

Through the use of modelling and exemplar work we teach learners to organize their work and present it to a high standard. We set high expectations for presentation and encourage pupils to take pride in their work. We maintain that the sketchbook should tell the story of the project and display work should consider the audience.

Regular group critiques throughout each project, build pupils’ confidence to share their work with others and be able to articulate what makes their work successful. Pupils are taught to be supportive of each other and serve as critical friends.

Pupils are given the opportunity to display their work around school to share their achievements.

Using The eduqas GCSE assessment criteria we structure our Art and Design course at KS3 to develop skills in the following areas:

Creative making

Reflective recording

Contextual understanding
Personal Response

KS3 Art and Design lessons lay the foundations for pupils to continue with GCSE, and then on to A Level Art and Design. Many of our Artists go on to study Arts courses in higher education and we love to hear back from those who have gone on to pursue careers in the Arts. Pupils are introduced to a range of creative making skills through practical lessons underpinned by research into Arts, Craft and Design practitioners and cultures. By recording the world around them through drawing, photography and writing pupils are encouraged to reflect on their own work and progress, and develop their own opinions. With increasing freedom throughout the Key Stages our pupils develop confidence and independence to respond to set briefs in a personal way.

Art Club takes place once a week after school and twice a week at lunchtime. This is open to all.

We work closely with the Walker Art Gallery to enrich our curriculum with trips, outside speakers, competitions and exhibition opportunities.

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Years 7-9

Textbooks/other useful resources

GCSE

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We follow the WJEC eduqas exam board specification. Students work with increasing independence to fulfil the following assessment objectives:

Contextual Understanding
Reflective recording
Creative Making
Personal Response

Students work with specialist staff to explore a wide range of techniques and processes including drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, film, digital, textiles, sculpture and more. All projects begin with recording from first hand observation through drawing and photography and are underpinned by research into artists, designers and cultures. Through teacher lead workshops and group critiques our artists work together to learn new skills, form and express opinions and share ideas. Students develop a portfolio of coursework from September in year 10 through to Christmas in Year 11. From January in year 11, students work on the Externally Set Task which they will choose from a selection of themes given by the exam board. They will develop a set of work in response to their chosen theme with support from staff, then they will work independently to create a final piece for their project during 10 hours of exam conditions around Easter time.

Detailed specification is available at

http://www.eduqas.co.uk/qualifications/art-and-design/gcse/

Further reading/resources:

A Level

$\"\"$ We follow the WJEC eduqas exam board specification. Students work with increasing independence to fulfil the following assessment objectives:

Contextual Understanding

Reflective recording

Creative Making

Personal Response

Students work with specialist staff to explore a wide range of techniques and processes including drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, film, digital, textiles, sculpture and more. All projects begin with recording from first hand observation through drawing and photography and are underpinned by research into artists, designers and cultures. Art lessons at St. Hilda’s are taught through one to one tutorials where staff act as facilitators to support, stretch and challenge students to develop their own ideas, build on existing strengths and discover new ones. Through teacher lead workshops and group critiques our artists work together to learn new skills, form and express opinions and share ideas. We create opportunities for our students to explore career pathways in the creative industries, which were worth £84.1 Billion to the UK in 2016 and this figure is increasing year on year.

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Detailed specification is available at

http://www.eduqas.co.uk/qualifications/art-and-design/as-a-level/

Further reading/resources: