The Art department consists of a strong enthusiastic team of staff, who are very talented and professional in their approach. Staff are proud of the way they help pupils to progress, they instil confidence, enthusiasm and self worth into students, building good staff - pupil relationships, alongside striving for high achievement. About the Art Department The Art department is very successful and continues to progress and develop. At present the it consists of four full time members of staff and offers a range of skills to all our students: drawing | painting | mixed media | textiles | sculpture | |
The department is contained within four rooms, two of these being specialist rooms for sculpture and textiles. The Art department contains computers, scanners and a digital camera. The department also has access to an ICT room which students use for research and digital art work. All students in Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 benefit from visits to art galleries and museums both locally and nationally. They have the opportunity to work with artists in residence which enhances their experience of art and design practices. At KS3 all pupils experience a range of artistic techniques including sculpture, textiles, drawing, painting and mixed media techniques. Pupils are expected to continue their learning at home by completing regular homework in sketchbooks. Art and Design and Art Textiles are very popular option courses at GCSE level and students achieve very good grades each year. The art department follows the OCR Syllabus. Students complete three coursework projects. Each project is based on a different topic and consists of preparatory work, artist research and a final piece produced in a chosen media such as painting, collage, drawing or sculpture. The Applied GCSE in Art and Design is a relatively new course which allows pupils to gain two GCSE's. Pupils gain experience working in two dimensions and three dimensions with emphasis on vocational contexts. At AS and A Level, again the OCR syllabus is followed. Students experiment with a variety of media and choose their favourite techniques to develop further. Independent learning is encouraged and the use of imagination is seen as an important element so that students can develop their projects in unique and personal ways. A level students get the opportunity to work with artists in residence and visit art galleries to enhance their experience of art and design. The Art Department is recognised in the current OFSTED report, September 2002 as: "strength within the school" OFSTED; "recognises the students very low achievement when they enter the school, and how their achievements by the end of Year 9 are very good. Standards in Year 11 are now well above average and achievement is now excellent... almost three times the national average follow the GCSE course". "92% of the cohort opted for the GCSE Art and Design and 78% achieved A* - C in June 2002" (Quotes from 2002 OFSTED) The results reflect the enthusiasm and abilities of the teachers and the willingness of the students to learn and progress. Main Art Department Website |
