Key Stage Three
The art course at Key Stage
Three is designed to form a continuum from the first form through to the end of
Key Stage Three. The art department endeavours to provide an education that
places the emphases on learning the building blocks of art through the
understanding of the formal elements (line, tone, shape, form, colour theory
etc.) and practice of developing fundamental practical skills and techniques.
Pupils will also learn about many different aspects of art history through the
work of different artists and designers, which is then linked to support their
own practical work. As pupils move on through the course a broader range of
materials (including painting, ceramics, printmaking, sculpture and ICT) and
processes and procedures (including recording from direct observation) are
incorporated into the learning process with greater scope for creativity and
imaginative responses from pupils.
GCSE
The GCSE course is designed
to allow progression from Key stage three. Students are required to respond to
given themes, for example Cubism in Portraiture and Masks and Beliefs, and to
execute and develop the practical skills and techniques acquired in the lower
school. Review, evaluation and analysis of their work as it progresses is an
integral part of the course. There are opportunities for pupils to engage their
imagination and creative abilities using a broad range of materials and to
produce work that goes beyond the boundaries of scale and scope that would
apply to lower school pupils.
AS/A2
At AS and A2 level students
are encouraged to develop a more independent learning strategy, incorporating a
broad range of research and a more developed understanding of the issues and
complexities that provoke art practitioners, which in turn it is hoped, that
they themselves will be stimulated by their discoveries to produce more
creative personalized work.
AS unit 1: Students are required to respond to a given theme and
follow a path of enquiry, that will include appropriate research and recording
from primary sources; selection of contextual images for analysis,
demonstrating understanding of purpose in order to inspire and inform the
development of their own work.
AS unit 2: Students respond to an Externally Set Assignment
initiated by the examining body and then interpret it through their own
independent research and idea development, which should encompass the use of a
broad range of media, experimentation and regular review and refinement, before
arriving at a personalized outcome.
A2 unit 3: This unit
incorporates two elements: practical work and personal study. These two
elements should be seen as integrally connected and supporting each other,
however, each element will be presented as separate final outcomes. The
personal study requires students to produce an illustrated dissertation on a
selected aspect of Art, Craft and Design.
A2 unit 4: Unit 4 has the
same requirements as unit 2, with the expectation that the work will have much
more depth and understanding and executed at a higher standard than that at AS
level.
Outside of the Classroom
The art department has a
history of providing a wide range of enrichment opportunities for pupils, for
example there have been recent visits to the Saatchi Gallery, the Victoria and
Albert museum and the Wallace collection. There are links with external
organizations, for example 2 members of our lower sixth group represent the
school as part of the Royal Academy of Art’s atRAct scheme for sixth formers.
The department has for a number of years participated in the Mayor’s
Thames Festival where 2 artists visit the school and run a workshop which forms
part of a wider exhibition of work on the South Bank. Guest speakers are invited
for various activities, most recently Deborah Nash from the Magic Lantern- an
arts educational charity- came to present a slide show and talk to both 4th art form
groups on Portraiture in Cubism. The department has offered various in house
after school workshops most recently for silk screen printing and clay gargoyle
heads for lower school pupils, moreover, there are open sessions for exam group
students to use the studio facilities for coursework, which is generally well
attended. Finally pupils are regularly entered for competitions, often with
great success.