An Introduction to Art and Design

The Art and Design programme at Key Stage 3 is designed to engage all students with a range of abilities into realising their full potential through work that they will find enjoyable, interesting and informative.

Year 7

Drawing is the basis of all art forms, and students are encouraged to develop their drawing skills through observation drawing of a series of Natural Forms. They will be introduced to the formal elements of art, and learn the application of texture and tone, as well as the drawn qualities of line, point and pattern.

Colour theory is introduced with students learning about the colour wheel, primary, secondary, tertiary and complementary colour. Colour mixing to create tones and depth will be a natural development. The value of art historical influences is introduced around the work of the Expressionists and Franz Marc.

Basic clay process such as rolling out clay, applying coloured slip and the working of the kiln is focussed around the work of the Aboriginal and African cultures.

Year 8

The practice of drawing from observation will continue, and students will study a range of man-made forms to improve their abilities. The emphasis will be on the creation of form and a visual depth within their studies using the formal elements of art effectively. The various surfaces of objects, notably the reflective quality, will become a main focus. This work will begin the development of painting tonally so that the three dimensional qualities of an object can be accurately conveyed using paint. Art historical references to artists such as Ferdinand Leger and Jim Dine will be formed.

Students will be introduced to Printmaking in the form of polyprint images taken from their observation studies.

The students’ clay experience will continue with them understanding the processes of constructing coil pots.

Year 9

Drawing from observation, experience and imagination will continue with students studying the theme of portraiture and the human form. They will be introduced to proportion, the structures within drawing and study the critical influences of artists such as Andy Warhol and the Expressionists. The expertise gained will be used in the observation study of various aspects of still life.

The students’ ceramics experience will continue with them making masks and gargoyles based on their drawings and contain an ethnic link with the critical influences of Chinese and other Asian artefacts.

Key Stage 4 Art (Years 10-11)

The GCSE Art and Design course follows the AQA 4201 syllabus. It is expected that students hoping to take Art at GCSE level would have achieved a Level 6 or above at Key Stage 3.

There are two Units of work associated with the course, the Unit 1 Portfolio of Work and the Unit 2 Externally Set Task.

Unit 1 comprises of a Portfolio of work which is both teacher led and student extended. The work produced amounts to 60% of the final mark, and must contain artwork from at least two art areas such as photography, textiles, ceramics, painting and drawing. The teacher led themes are Natural Forms, Still life and Ethnic Art. There is no limit to the Portfolio Work, but the quality, experimentation, development, critical research and final outcomes must demonstrate a consistently high standard of approach and technically and analytically high realisations in the work.

Unit 2 comprises of an Externally Set Task that amounts to 40% of the total mark. Students are set work in the form of an examination by the AQA Board, and after a period of preparation, sit a 10 hour test to produce a final outcome.

All work is internally marked by the school and externally moderated by the board.

All work builds on student expertise and critical knowledge gained at Key Stage 3, and is designed to enhance and extend their artistic skills and abilities.

The AQA Course structure will naturally lead on to the AQA AS and A2 level course and examination at Key Stage 5.