| Art | ||||
Teaching Staff
GCSE AQA Fine Art (3202) AS Art and Design (8AD01) A2 Art and Design (9AD01) Art Department Website |
"Art is one of the most passionate subjects available. As well as unleashing your creative side, it allows you to learn about the history of art. We are surrounded by images and artefacts, in fact they are weaved into the fabric of modern day existence. Our aim is to empower our students so that they may develop an informed opinion about these images in addition to equipping them with the skills needed to express themselves visually." Ofsted report: Provision for art is good. 'Good teaching leads to effective learning. Students produce expressive and imaginative work.'
Department description:
In Key Stage 3 all pupils follow a broad course in Art and Design which is designed to develop our pupils’ ability to confidently manipulate a range of materials and techniques. A balance between 2D media such as charcoal, paint and printmaking and 3D materials such as clay is achieved and pupils work in both the fine art and design based domains.
Working to set themes pupils are encouraged to develop expressive and imaginative ideas with the emphasis on pushing boundaries to further independent thought. The importance of fusing visual information gleaned from ‘real-life’ observation with those extracted from second hand sources such as the internet is emphasised. Digital photography is a recent addition to our tools and coupled with the high quality printouts from the department’s colour laser printer provide pupils with superb reference material. Art is an optional subject at GCSE with a growing number of pupils selecting to take the subject in Key Stage 4. Projects build on the foundation laid in Key Stage 3 and personal sketchpad work, often set as homework, enables students to take projects in a personal direction. Links with artists’ images is augmented with a trip to a National Museum/Art Gallery. Our Sixth Form A-level course produces exciting and often large scale work as can be seen in the superb acrylic paintings displayed around the school. Each year several students move on to study art at a higher level. In addition to traditional art courses students often secure places to study Architecture at degree level through the high quality portfolio of art work which they have produced during their AS and A2 studies.
All art staff teach across the three Key Stages using the full range of art materials and techniques on offer. The desire to develop and improve Schemes of Work in the light of evaluation is rewarded by the high quality work which our art students produce.
|
