Art & Photography
Curriculum Leader: Mrs. R. Hickman
Contact: rhickman@testwoodschool.co.uk
As a visual and creative art form, Art is fundamental to building student’s confidence by encouraging and inspiring pupils to take risks, overcome hurdles and achieve. Art helps students to learn about themselves, their likes and dislikes and how to analyse and justify their opinions. The department actively encourages students to keep an open mind when learning about new subjects, styles and traditions.
The Art curriculum will help to encourage pupil creativity and develop artistic skills. From the start of year 7, students are asked to explore their ideas, taking inspiration from the world around them and the network of artists that have helped to influence their lives.
Throughout their experience of the curriculum, pupils have regular opportunities to work in this way and in a variety of media, focusing on key processes of observation, contextual understanding, idea development, reviewing and evaluating, accumulating in a unique and individual final outcome. This creative way of working feeds directly into the concept of ‘the Creative Journey’.
Ultimately, exploring the Arts and undertaking creative activities contribute towards young people becoming successful learners and confident individuals and responsible citizens.
Key Stage 3 Curriculum Intent
The course content follows the national curriculum purpose of study and is designed to build and improve on fundamental skills and knowledge, increasing in challenge over each project, which leads to the student’s increased understanding and progress in the subject.
Ensuring that fundamental skills (drawing, contextual understanding, idea development, reviewing & evaluating) are central to each termly project helps to embed layered learning of knowledge and artistic skills allows progress for students considering their various starting points.
KS3 consists of termly units of work covering a wide range of disciplines to enable students to develop their Art skills in both 2 and 3 dimensions.
Key Stage 4 Curriculum Intent
KS4 Art students either undertake AQA GCSE Art and Design: Fine Art or AQA GCSE Art and Design: Photography. In both courses, students are required to develop knowledge, understanding and skills relevant to their chosen title through integrated practical, critical and contextual study that encourages direct engagement with original works and practice.
Students may work in any medium or combination of media. They can work entirely in digital media or entirely non-digital media, or in a mixture of both, provided the aims and assessment objectives are met.
Students must learn through practical experience and demonstrate knowledge and understanding of sources that inform their creative intentions. Intentions should be realised through purposeful engagement with visual language, visual concepts, media, materials and the application of appropriate techniques and working methods.
Students must develop and apply relevant subject-specific skills in order to use visual language to communicate personal ideas, meanings and responses.
Students must, over time, reflect critically upon their creative journey and its effectiveness in relation to the realisation of personal intentions.
