Art & Design

Years 7-9 are taught in blocks of 8 weeks as part of a carousel of subjects. Each pupil will experience Art & Design for 8 weeks in double lessons.

Year 7

Pupils will be given a target level based on their baseline assessment completed in their first lesson.

Portraits – exploring the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Year 8

They will produce 3-D cakes with varying materials.

The pupils have produced a stained glass window for the school.

Year 9

Project – IDENTITY/POP ART exploring the work of a variety of artists including; Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist and many more.

The pupils will design and make clay plates using their own personal response to Identity and the work of one or more of the Pop Artist’s style of work.

Various competitions are held. Here is the 2016 winner:

Courses offered:

• AQA Art and Design Full Course (multi-discipline)
• AQA Art and Design Three Dimensional Design
• AQA Art and Design Fine Art

Every pupil will be assessed during the first term and entered on the course best suited to their strengths.

Course Content  – Portfolio of Work and Externally Set Assignment

New Specification 2016-2018 – Grades 9 – 1

Portfolio of Work  (60% of marks)

This component consists of 2 ‘units’ of work and is assessed according to the following criteria;

• Research according to the artist, craftsperson, culture or genre highlighted in two different project briefs (one for each unit) – annotation
• Standard of observational drawing and painting.
• Ability to experiment using a wide range of materials appropriate to all disciplines
• Ability to come up with various design ideas for a final composition/ sculptural piece relevant to that particular unit’s brief.
• Provision of a final piece which is developed from the above preparatory work and is relevant to the brief.

The portfolio is compiled during years 10 and 11 to be completed in May in year 11.

Externally Set Assignment  (40% of marks)

This component begins from January of year 11. The assessment criteria are the same as the bullet pointed portfolio criteria, although the timescale given is very different as outlined below;

• Students are introduced to the question paper containing 7 project briefs/topics from which they must choose 1.
• Students are given until March to gather the research, drawings, experimentation, designs etc
• When all the prep work is complete they should have a design completed in preparation for the ‘controlled assignment’ aspect of the task.
• Students will take all their prep work and designs into a 10 hour exam (taken over 2 days). They will use this work to aid them in completing their final outcome.

The controlled test is sat under strict AQA exam conditions.

The students are given task sheets containing deadlines and success criteria to help them to plan, but it is worth noting that all courses involve a substantial amount of commitment. The workload is not light.

Career opportunities- It is worth remembering that art as a subject offers a different type of learning and skill to students. It can give more academic students a break from subjects who rely heavily on remembering facts and it is essential to many careers. With new advances in technology creative skills can be useful in T.V and Media, animation, advertising, game design, engineering, architecture, hairdressing, clothes design etc.

All GCSE WORK WILL BE ON DISPLAY AT THE END OF THE COURSE AND INVITIATIONS WILL BE SENT OUT FOR ALL PARENTS/GUARDIANS TO ATTEND AND CELEBRATE THE SUCCESSES OF THEIR CHILDREN

Further information is available from Mrs Whittle