Art

Learning within art, craft and design stimulates creativity and imagination. It provides visual, tactile and sensory experiences and a special way of understanding and responding to the world. A high-quality art and design education should inspire, engage and challenge children - enabling pupils to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form and pattern. Students will become involved in shaping their environment through art and design activities, involving different creative techniques. They will explore ideas and meaning through the work of artists and designers. Additionally, as they learn about the history, roles and functions of art, they can explore the impact that it has on contemporary life and that of different times and cultures.

Aims: The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

1. Produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences

2. Become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques

3. Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design

4. Know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

We achieve this at St Benedict’s by:

-Teaching a predominantly skills-based curriculum, which covers drawing, painting, sculpture, textiles and printing. Introducing children to artists and art movements directly linked to the skills or topics they are covering

-Utilising a sketchbook approach, so that students feel safe to experiment and take risks, without the fear of doing something “wrong”.  Openly promoting art and design as a possible further study or career choice. Encouraging each student to evaluate their art and design work and that of others, both with peers and adults.

- Celebrating effort, progress and achievement in art through displays, exhibitions and enrichment activities, such as weekly clubs, trips out and competitions.

Impact by the end of their time with us:

We want students to have learned, improved and embedded a range of artistic skills. They should have an awareness of a broad range of artists and craftspeople and be able to consider and discuss the artworks they come across. We want our students to be confident to explore, experiment and take risks, placing value on the process and journey that they take, not just on the finished product. Most importantly, we want students to have found and enjoyed a creative outlet – a means of self-expression and enjoyment.

At year 7 and 8, key stage 3 Art is on a 12-lesson rotation system with Drama and Music. Students attend each subject area twice in the academic year, building on skills learnt from previous rotations

Each student uses a sketchbook to show their work’s progress: this is where both class work and homework is stored. Students take pride in these books and are eager to show them off. Students are exposed to a wide variety of materials and techniques with observational studies from primary and secondary sources. Materials include pencil drawing, painting, sculpture (including clay) printmaking, collage and mixed media explorations.

Year 9 students focus on longer creative investigations of a theme, with extended periods of time studying artists, historical and contemporary movements and responding accordingly. Students continue to work in sketchbooks, but these are larger, A3 size which promotes risk taking and pride in the presentation of their creative outcomes.

Annual themes are subject to change: however, the materials and techniques are consistent to ensure all learning opportunities are met.

Home Learning at KS3

Each project in year 7 and 8 has three home learning tasks set per project- these are linked to the theme involving collecting visuals, artist and cultural research; using the internet and presenting their findings in class in their sketchbook.

Year 9 home learning is set as an expectation of an hour a week, this will consist of artist research and discovery to use within the art projects, or continuation of classwork to ensure all work is completed to the best of abilities.

What can parents/carers do to support at home?

Take them to a gallery or museum, locally or in London, or if away on holiday, check the newspapers and the web to see what is on and if it might be appropriate to enrich their learning. Encourage them to watch Art reviews, documentaries and creative competitions, The Culture Show or The Great Pottery Throwdown for example.

Discuss ideas and help them to analyse their own work, ask them about what they have been doing in class; encourage them to engage with the home learning platform to check for activities, supporting with hand in dates and collection of resources where appropriate. Make sure that they have equipment to work with at home: pencils, rubbers, colour pencils, paint, glue etc

Keep an eye on their classcharts account to see what home learning they have and encourage them to complete it on time. If there is a genuine reason why they cannot do this or if it will be late, please encourage them to contact their teacher and explain the issue, before the lesson when it is due, where possible.

Students are key stage 4 follow the AQA Art and Design- Fine art curriculum

Moving to GCSE art and design give students the increased opportunity to immerse themselves in all things creative. They will continue to explore the world around them, through the eyes of art forms, research into historical and contemporary practise will feature heavily in their work alongside an increased assurance of opinion of the world around them. Making art is about speaking to an audience about your thoughts, feelings and mood, what do you want others to see, what do you want to share. Students are encouraged to find themselves in the narrative and portray this though their work.

Students study covers a range of activities and in-depth assignments with an emphasis on opportunities to experiment with different media in order to explore strengths and preferences. They will be using painting, drawing, print making, sculpture and alternative media. Year 10 and 11 go on annual trips to support their growing studies and present their work in either A3 or A2 sized portfolios.

This course is suitable for students who are:

• Keen to develop their visual skills, being creative, enthusiastic and imaginative with ideas
• Able to sustain a personalised investigation
• Enjoy visits to galleries, museums, workshops and studios
• Willing to experiment and take risks in their work- thinking ‘outside of the box’. 
• Able to review and refine ideas and outcomes to making progress with their sustained studies

The course is structured in 2 parts, coursework and exam work.

Unit 1: A personal portfolio in art and design internally set and marked and assessed through controlled assessment (60% of the total marks) At St Benedict’s, this consists of 2 in-depth projects. Work is created in the classroom and at home, is clearly presented in A3 or A2 form.

Unit 2: A 10 hour ‘Externally set assignment’ (Exam) where work is prepared in advance from selecting a starting point from 7 options given by the exam board, internally marked (40% of the total marks) This is created over 12 weeks from January to Easter of the year 11 year of study.

Home Learning at KS4

Home Learning is set in line with coursework needs; there is an expectation that students will do at least 1.5 hours of Artwork outside of lesson time, this can be at home, or at school in the Art room in the designated lunchtime or after school sessions for year 10s and 11s.

Often work will consist of Research, ideas gathering in line with assessment objective 1 and completing presentation of work, drawing, and ideas as per assessment objective 3.

What can parents/carers do to support at home?

Take them to a gallery or museum, locally or in London, or if away on holiday, check the newspapers and the web to see what is on and if it might be appropriate to enrich their learning. Encourage them to watch Art reviews, documentaries and creative competitions.

Discuss ideas and help them to analyse their own work, ask them about what they have been doing in class; encourage them to engage with the home learning platform to check for activities, supporting with hand in dates and collection of resources where appropriate. Make sure that they have equipment to work with at home, pencils, rubbers, colour pencils, paint, glue etc.

Keep an eye on their classcharts account to see what home learning they have and encourage them to complete it on time. If there is a genuine reason why they cannot do this or if it will be late, please encourage them to contact their teacher and explain the issue, before the lesson when it is due, where possible.

Exam board link

www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/art-and-design/gcse/art-and-design-8201-8206