ART AND DESIGN

The aims of the Art Department are to:

• Familiarise students with the elements of art, thus enabling them to build up an understanding of the visual language by which we communicate ideas.

• Provide a balanced programme of art, craft and design which builds on previous work and takes account of previous ideas.

• Enable the students to work in two or three dimensions and on a variety of scales, acquiring the practical ability to construct images

• Enable the student to evaluate her or his own work and the  work of others.

• Enable students to understand and appreciate art from a variety of periods and styles both historically and culturally.

The main specialist areas within the department are Fine Art, Graphics, Printmaking, 3D Design & Sculpture. The Department has three fully equipped rooms and a Post 16 area.

All students in Years 7 to 9 receive an education in Art & Design.  The lower school syllabus provides a complete education for those students leaving the subject at the end of Year 9 as well as an introduction to the options available in Year 10.

Art & Design is a popular option at GCSE in Years 10 and 11. Students enter either an unendorsed exam combining Art, Design and Sculpture components or the double GCSE award in Applied Art and Design.

In Years 12 and 13, the Department offers two different Art & Design courses, AS/A2 Art and Design  and the AS/A2 Double Award in Applied Art and Design. A/S & A2 Levels Level Art & Design provides a broad range of study including Fine Art, Sculpture and History of Art, thus allowing each student to develop her or his own individual strengths, whilst the Applied Art courses place Art & Design in a vocational context.

At all levels, students are expected to use a sketch book; homeworks are set on a regular basis.  Many students spend much of their spare time working in the department. Gallery and exhibition visits are a regular feature of departmental provision for older students.  Previous trips to galleries in Barcelona, Florence, London and Paris have proved to be a popular extra curricular activity.