Curriculum

ART & DESIGN

| Education | Curriculum | Art & Design
Art provides the opportunity to demonstrate imagination and creative flair. Through our Art curriculum, pupils develop and refine their drawing and observational skills through drawing a range of everyday objects and primary images, making their work personal. Pupils also have the opportunity to experiment with and select methods and approaches, synthesise observations, ideas and feelings to create compositions for paintings, collages and other creative responses. They are encouraged to explore their artistic styles by studying a range of artists and honing their ‘drawing and making’ styles.

At Key Stage 3, Art and Design is studied as part of the Art / Design Technology carousel. At Key Stage 4, pupils have the opportunity to study one of three options from AQA’s GCSE Art and Design specifications: Art and Design, Photography or Textiles.

Curriculum Overview
Year 7 Year 8
Foundation Skills

Pupils will learn:

  • To understand and identify the formal elements of art – tone, line, form, shape, texture and colour
  • How to make use of a wide range of tonal and shading techniques, be able to discuss tone and formal drawn elements used by themselves and others
  • How to draw a shoe in proportion
  • How to draw from observation

Creative Footwear

Pupils will learn:

  • How to record forms in both 2D and 3D responses
  • How to create a range of prints using poly block or mono-printing techniques
  • How to use drawing to prepare for a sculpture and to draw in response to a sculptural element
  • How to manipulate different materials to create different shoe forms
  • How to construct a 3 dimensional form using a variety of materials
  • The basic principles of design and construct
 Unusual Faces

Pupils will learn:

  • How to confidently talk about work using appropriate art vocabulary to give an opinion
  • How to experiment with techniques and materials and evaluate the success of what they have learnt
  • How to manipulate different materials to realise intentions
  • The techniques of sculpture through the experimental approach to constructing Marquette’s
  • How to identify their own strengths and create combined responses to multiple artists

Landscapes / Buildings

Pupils will learn:

  • The techniques of colour print through the use of lino, screen print and stencil
  • How to experiment with techniques and materials and evaluate the success of what they have learnt
  • To understand the fundamental principles of landscape, foreshortening, perspective and composition
  • To experiment with the application and mixing of a variety of paint materials
KS4 Option Choice: Art and Design
Year 9 Year 10 Year 11
  • Students explore and experiment with a variety of materials, processes and techniques, and investigate different kinds of sources
  • Students explore a variety of approaches to drawing and written annotation
  • Possible themes to work on are ‘Natural Forms’ or ‘Close Up’
 Knowledge and understanding

  • How sources relate to individual, social, historical, environmental, cultural, ethical and/or issues based contexts
  • How ideas, themes, forms, feelings and concerns can inspire personally determined responses that are primarily aesthetic, intellectual or conceptual
  • Students to develop ideas and intentions relevant to fine art
  • Students must choose a project inspired by topics covered in previous years
  • Coverage of the four assessment objectives
  • A sustained project evidencing the journey from initial engagement to the realisation of intentions
  • A selection of further work undertaken during the student’s course of study
  • Evidence of drawing activity and written annotation
KS4 Option Choice: Photography
Year 9 Year 10 Year 11
  • Students begin to acquire a technical vocabulary, which helps them to express their analysis of photographic sources
  • Students study the effects of changing camera aperture, position and point of focus to control depth of field
  • A “mini brief” scenario is used to teach students how to make critical and contextual analysis of appropriate sources
  • Portraiture
  • Location photography
  • Studio photography
  • Experimental imagery
  • Installation
  • Documentary photography
  • Photo-journalism
  • Moving image: film, video and animation
  • Fashion photography

Knowledge and understanding

  • How sources relate to historical, contemporary, social, cultural and issues-based contexts and external considerations such as those associated with the cultural industries and client-oriented requirements
 Students to complete a project on the following topics:

  • Two- and/or three-dimensional textile, sculpture, ceramics or mixed media techniques
  • Photographic form using darkroom processes to refine, alter and experiment with their images or digital manipulation software
  • Video and computer manipulation techniques to explore the moving image
KS4 Option Choice: Textiles
Year 9 Year 10 Year 11
  • Explore practical activities
  • Make connections with the work of textile artists, craftspeople and designers
  • Integrate the use of drawing and written annotation into working practice
  • Respond to a given starting point(s)
  • Develop and present work in any appropriate format such as sketchbooks, worksheets or through sample and design journals.
  • Explore a prescribed area of study in a personal manner
  • Extend knowledge, understanding and skills through engagement with suggested sources and application of suitable materials, processes and techniques when responding to a starting point
  • Develop the idea of a personal creative journey which considers the four assessment objectives
  • Resolve investigations through the creation of a personal textile piece
  • Students must choose a project inspired by topics covered in previous years
  • Coverage of the four assessment objectives
  • A sustained project evidencing the journey from initial engagement to the realisation of intentions
  • A selection of further work undertaken during the student’s course of study
  • Evidence of drawing activity and written annotation
Assessment

Internal assessments take place every half-term.

KS4 Exam Board Specification: AQA GCSE Art and Design (8201-8206)

Enrichment Offer

The Art Department offers a range of Art clubs during break/lunch time, as well as trips out to art museums. Intervention sessions to consolidate prior learning and maximise progress are at the heart of our delivery model.

Useful Resources and Revision Support