Art

Children are naturally creative. It is our job to give them the freedom, materials and space to let their creativity blossom to its full potential. The arts give children a creative outlet to explore and express their emotions, affording them ways of coping with life's challenges.

Studying the arts teaches determination and resilience. It teaches us that it is okay to fail, to not get things totally right the first time and to have the courage to start again.

Art instruction helps children with the development of motor skills, language skills, social skills, decision-making, risk-taking, and inventiveness. When you study art you learn to work both independently and collaboratively, you also gain experience in time management. The leading people in any field are those who can think creatively and innovatively. These are skills that employers value alongside qualifications. Making and participating in the arts aids the development of these skills

The Art and Design department's vision is to inspire all of our pupils to become confident, creative and independent learners. Our high-quality schemes of learning engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art. Pupils are exposed to engaging and culturally diverse artists, designers and crafts people that provide our pupils with opportunities to celebrate their own cultural backgrounds.

Pupils are rigorously and explicitly taught subject specific vocabulary throughout our schemes. Acquisition of specialist language aids pupils to contextualise their understanding of a variety of sources, as well as having the opportunity to critically engage and develop a more rigorous understanding of art, craft and design.

Pupils will encounter reading from a wide variety of sources which is critical to unlocking their understanding and ability to access the curriculum. Pupils are taught to record, analyse and evaluate their thought processes, initial thoughts and ideas.

Our curriculum has been specifically developed in order for pupils experience a broad range of specialist

materials, such as: digital manipulation, photography, epoxy resin, art textiles and ceramics. The most successful area within our curriculum is the construction and manipulation of clay. Pupils have access to specialist facilities such as the kiln to produce painted and glazed ceramic pieces. We aim to ensure all our pupils discover success in an area of art, craft and design other than exploring traditional drawing skills and techniques. Across the curriculum substantive knowledge is built upon, so that pupils become proficient in drawing, painting and sculpture.

Subsequently gaining the impartial knowledge to express and communicate their ideas visually and produce confident, refined outcomes.

How is the curriculum delivered?

KS3: 2 hours a fortnight

KS4: Year 10: 5 hours a fortnight. Year 11: 6 hours a fortnight

Assessment in Art and Design at Key Stage 3 is through a process continual assessment across the schemes of learning. Formative assessments consist of continual verbal feedback, so that pupils can make progress in real time. Prior knowledge is built upon through effective recall tasks, aiming to commit information to pupils' long term memory. Whole class questioning strategies are implemented to quickly assess retention of new information using a variety of activities such as: thumbs up thumbs down and true or false. Our schemes focus on what pupils must know in order to be successful, rather than being assessed on their outcomes alone. All pupils are given opportunities to develop skills over time to increase their proficiency in handling materials. Regularly, pupils are encouraged to peer and self-assess their work in order to respond to make better progress.

Summative assessment takes place at week 6 and week 12 of a scheme using a progress ladder to support pupils and inform them of areas of success, along with SMART targets for improvement to respond to, either immediately or to develop within the subsequent scheme of work. Pupils are assessed on three key areas within their sketchbooks which are; the use of specialist language when and the quality of their understanding of sources through written annotations; development of skills ideas and their ability to manipulate with control a variety of mediums within their outcomes.

Pupils are also assessed through google quizzes on their core knowledge of the formal elements, key concepts and vocabulary. Our assessment supports pupils to develop self-awareness, recognise their strengths and provides a structure to develop those areas they may find more challenging.

Units of work:

Year 7: All pupils will study the topics Graffitti, Monsters and Architecture.
Year 8: All pupilswill study the topics Cakes, Mixed Media and Animal eyes.
Year 9: All pupils will study the topics Natural forms, Distorted Figures and Grayson Perry.
Year 10: All pupils will study the themes Cells & Bacteria, Identity and Mock Exam.
Year 11: All pupils will study the theme The Sea

How is GCSE Art and Design assessed?

Non-examination assessment - Portfolio (60%)
Non-examination assessment - Externally set assignment (40%)

Each component is marked out of a total of 96 marks. As the assessment objectives are equally weighted in each component, there is a maximum of 24 marks for each of the assessment objectives. The marks, out of 24, for each assessment objective must be added together to produce the total mark out of 96.

What are the assessment objectives?

AO1: Develop ideas through investigations, demonstrating critical understanding of sources.
AO2: Refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes.
AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions as work progresses.
AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and demonstrates understanding of visual language.

Revision:

All GCSE pupils receive personalised checklists, revision booklets and knowledge organisers that are packed with resources that help to break down the complex requirements for each assessment objective into manageable chunks, allowing pupils to focus on the key points. Targeted revision and catch up sessions will be held to support pupils throughout the allocated prep time.

Qualifications offered

Exam board: AQA

Course: GCSE Art and Design

Wider learning opportunities

At KS3 & KS4 we aim for pupils to undertake talks, demonstrations, workshops and classes from specialist artists, designers and craftspersons, in order to give our pupils the opportunity to work with new mediums, develop ideas and creatively explore new ideas.

We have had a masterclass in clay slab construction, delivered by a Raku Firing expert.

We have hosted Nikki Parminter, a Cheshire based artist who specialises in mixed media experimental textiles pieces. Pupils chose the ‘Fantastic Frames’ workshop which involved cutting, shaping and incising pieces of “fab foam” in order to create a decorative, elaborate frame or border which can be used around an image or mirror. The frames will be painted, sprayed and embellished. In addition, learning how to use the foam in other creative contexts.

We visited ‘The Art of Banksy’ exhibition at Media City. The Art of Banksy exhibition showcased 145 iconic pieces from prints, canvases and sculptures created by the artist, all of which are on loan from 40 collectors from around the globe to create the world’s largest touring collection of authenticated and unique Banksy artworks.

Trips broaden pupil knowledge and understanding of art and design, stimulate creativity, and offer a deeper appreciation for the world of fine arts. Here are some of the trips on offer to our pupils:

YR9 - Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Pupils will explore 500 acres of beautiful landscape, unique historical features, five indoor galleries and a permanent display of outdoor sculptures.

YR10 - Manchester Museum

Pupils will visit the gallery : Living Worlds and Nature's Library (as well as the rest of the museum), in order to record drawings and primary studies relating to their coursework. It displays some of the museum’s collections of natural history specimens – from zoology, entomology, botany and earth sciences – to raise awareness of the incredible diversity of life on Earth. The galleries aim to inspire a deeper appreciation and connection with nature and encourage positive actions that benefit our planet and our health and wellbeing.

Links to career pathways throughout the curriculum

CEAIG is promoted throughout the curriculum and also experienced through trips and specialist workshops. The KS3 schemes of learning contain a rich variety of careers, to ensure that pupils are aware of the careers that link to their topics, to arouse curiosity in jobs and further education within art, craft and design.

Year 7 explore the role of book illustrators. Pupils learn the process of collaborating with authors and publishers to interpret the story to successfully design characters illustrations and book covers.

Year 8 explore the role of freelance artists. Learning about the importance of commissions, pupils are given a specification from a client to create a clay cake sculpture and packaging to promote a new cake shop.

Year 9 explore how illustrators such as Emma Dibben who works with premium clients such as Waitrose, to create stylised illustrations of fruit and vegetables for magazines, greetings cards and food packaging.

KS3 pupils also explore careers roles such as: 2D animator, sculptor, fashion designer, typographer, architect and many more…

KS4 pupils explore how science can link with art, exploring artists such as David Goodsell who is a well renowned medical illustrator, for Scripps Research Institute. Pupils look at how they can draw inspiration from science like Klari Reis’ epoxy resin petri dishes and alcohol ink installations. Inspired by viewing her own cells under a microscope, during time in hospital as a result of Crohn's Disease. Art therapy is introduced through Neurographic art combined with calming music to create mindfulness art to relieve stress, pain and anxiety.

At the beginning of year 11 pupils encounter a live brief written by ceramist Mary O’Malley. Pupils are asked to research and explore her ‘Bottom Feeders’ series, to design and create a functional piece of pottery, combined with sea life aesthetics.

Interactive careers displays (QR links) have been developed to engage pupils in exploring careers independently outside of the classroom. Post 16 art and design pathways need to be promoted further around the academy to ensure pupils can make confident decisions on their path to success

The links below explain what knowledge, understanding and skills pupils learn about in Art for each year group, as well as how they are assessed.