Art & Design

Art encourages students to push boundaries of self-expression and creativity. It can help improve confidence, wellbeing, health, and happiness. Art sharpens intellectual skills and makes connections through critical evaluation between cultures, our place in time and wider life experiences. Artists are good at problem solving and using visual media to make sense of the world.

Initially, the topics will be set by the teacher. As the topics develop and students become more confident practitioners, more individual responses will be encouraged from the student. The course will be Fine Art which is the broadest general option, giving students the opportunity to:

• Record from direct observation and personal experience.
• Identify and solve problems in visual and/or other forms.
• Develop an imaginative, creative and personal response.
• Experience confidence, enthusiasm and a sense of achievement in the practice of art and design.
• Demonstrate growing independence in the refinement and development of ideas and personal outcomes.
• Increase engagement and experimentation with a range of media, materials and techniques, including new media and technologies, where appropriate.
• Experience working in relevant frameworks and exploration of manipulative skills necessary to form, compose and communicate in two and/or three dimensions.
• Develop a working vocabulary relevant to the subject and an interest in, and a critical awareness of, other practitioners, environments and cultures.
• Investigate analytical, experimental, interpretative, practical, technical and expressive skills which aid effective and independent learning.
• Explore creativity, visual awareness, and critical and cultural understanding.

Students will produce both a coursework folio of work (50%) and sit an externally set exam (50%). They will be challenged to produce work which meets the demands of the 4 assessment objectives:

• AO1 Record Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions as work progresses.
• AO2 Explore Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes.
• AO3 Develop Develop ideas through investigation, demonstrating critical understanding.
• AO4 Present Present a personal and coherent response that realises intentions and demonstrates an understanding of visual language.

By the end of the course, students will be creative and confident practitioners with excellent problem-solving skills. Future careers in the Arts would include; fine art, film and television, architecture, interior design, fashion design, make-up and prosthetics, graphic communication, animation, photography, costume and theatre set design and many more.