Art

The art department provides all learners with the opportunity to engage in a variety of art, craft and design skills designed to inspire and challenge students. The aim is to equip all students with the subject knowledge, technical skills and understanding to achieve as highly as possible at all Key Stages and beyond. We have developed our curriculum with both breadth and depth in mind. KS3 students build on a wide variety of skills and techniques equipping them with the tools needed to become creative, independent practitioners who share our passion for the subject. Our team of committed and enthusiastic teachers have high expectations and strive to deliver outstanding lessons that cater for all abilities. 

KS3 students will explore the fundamentals of art thus establishing sound foundations in drawing, painting, clay and colour theory that will stand them in good stead should they opt to follow through to GCSE in year 10. They will learn how to reflect on, analyse and evaluate their work as it progresses in order to improve. Throughout the projects, students will be exposed to key terminology enabling them to express themselves articulately both linguistically and visually.

Our curriculum is designed to support progression over time. For example, in our clay projects, year 7 students will begin with flat relief and basic joining techniques through tile work. This is consolidated and built on in year 8 by introducing sculpting and modelling skills with a more challenging pinch pot animal project. Finally, drawing on prior learning, year 9 students will learn decorative and finishing skills through handmade coil vases.

We have embedded a dynamic range of artists, architects, craft makers and designers into the curriculum which provides students with the opportunity to engage with issues of a social, moral and cultural nature.

At various times of the year, KS3 students will be offered a range of extra-curricular activities to build on their skills and create a variety of exciting projects with like-minded students. GCSE students will have almost continuous access to the department staff and facilities after school from Monday to Thursday and are encouraged to attend whenever they need additional support.

With lesson time at GCSE more than doubling over the fortnightly timetable, we see our students make a leap in confidence and technical ability. Their course takes them on a creative journey by the end of which they should be able to pursue their own independent line of visual enquiry into A-Level. Year 12 is a formative year for our students. They will engage in sophisticated discussion and gain first-hand experience of the wider art world by completing community projects, perhaps in the form of voluntary commissions or involving our Academy partnership primary schools. In addition, they will be introduced to a range of new techniques such as Printmaking using the printing press, stretching their own canvases and paper, oil paint and life drawing workshops. In the end, year 12 will have a diverse and comprehensive portfolio of work that will be their key to securing a place of further study. Year 13 is a celebration of all that has shaped them as young artists. They will set their own project tailored to their interests resulting in a project that showcases all they have learnt and achieved