The design of our curriculum has been carefully developed over time to ensure that what we offer within Art is both broad and balanced. We aim to ensure that all students, regardless of their background, are able to actively participate in lessons, allowing them to experience and appreciate a range of different artistic disciplines. We aim to support our students by delivering rich and diverse learning experiences that allow them to explore a variety of practical skills, techniques and processes. These new skills, combined with creative thinking, allow our students to develop highly valuable and transferable skills that will support their future endeavours.

We promote the need for independence, not only in decision making but also encouraging accountability for their own learning and progress. We aim to foster a supportive working environment that allows all participants to contribute so that we are able to support each other in our decision making.

Our topics are designed in sequence to allow students to not only celebrate other cultures, encouraging diversity, but also to make them aware of the impact of art on society. These insights offer them the opportunity to build on their foundational skills and produce considered responses for their artwork.

Our key aims from the curriculum follow the federation’s ASPIRE strapline.

AMBITION – We want our pupils to be ambitious to improve their own practical artistic abilities, and to explore different media, styles, and artists.
SUCCESS – Understanding the role of art in both our own society and in other societies across the world.
PROGRESS – Knowledge and understanding of key artistic skills and concepts allows pupils to grow into confident and expressive artists in their own right.
INSPIRATION – Inspired by both historical and contemporary artists, our students strive to improve their knowledge, understanding, and technical artistic abilities.
RESPECT – In the Creative Arts, an environment of respect is created. This is respectful of all people in the classroom, as well as respect for the cultures that we are studying.
EQUALITY – Every pupil is given the same opportunities regardless of background. Through our curriculum, pupils appreciate their equality but recognise the inequality that exists locally and globally.

We hope that by the time students leave us they will have secured the following:

• A comprehensive knowledge of fundamental skills
• Strong drawing foundation
• Confidence to develop their own ideas
• The ability to articulate themselves through the use of subject specific vocabulary
• The ability to analyse and evaluate works of art

What do we expect students to get from Art?

• Students will gain experience of working with a broad range of media and materials, exploring a variety of art techniques and processes when developing their ideas.
• They will be able to make informed decisions about their artwork, refining their responses to a high standard.
• Students will investigate and analyse the work of past and contemporary artists to give them a deeper understanding of the subject.
• They will reflect on their work and evaluate and be able to recognise where improvements can be made.
• Students will develop an interest, enthusiasm and enjoyment for Art, craft and Design.
• They will be able to approach challenges and problems in different ways through new and more innovative approaches.

How does learning develop over the five years?

Year 7:

In year 7, students are introduced to the subject through the exploration of the formal elements of Art and Design. These are delivered through a series of projects which explore different artists, techniques and skills. Our year 7 students will begin to analyse the work of artists, both past and present, and will develop their own ideas, reflecting on their decision making as it progresses.

Year 8:

In year 8 students will have the opportunity to build upon the basic foundational skills that are established in year 7. They will continue to explore a range of different artists and draw upon a wider range of cultural backgrounds whose work begins to focus on more challenging themes. Due to the increase of challenge through subject matter, we will begin to see a steady progression of skills such as painting, drawing and design. Throughout this year we build upon the basic analysis skills from Year 7 to discuss and write about art in more depth and detail.

Year 9:

In year 9 students will not only refine the knowledge and skills gained throughout year 7 & 8, they will also have the opportunity to extend projects and themes further, allowing them to bridge the gap between Key Stage 3 & Key Stage 4 studies. Each individual student is encouraged to use a wider and more advanced range of materials and processes to those used in year 7 & 8 (such as print-making). We continue to embed the core skills by revisiting our formal elements in a more rigorous and exploratory fashion, through the use of drawing, mark-making, colour and development of ideas. Pupils are shown how to write meaningful analyses in a fully -structured and detailed fashion, moving away from mere annotation and brief sentences to use fully explained and evidenced discursive writing.

Year 10/11:

Our curriculum for years 10 & 11 is purposefully designed to develop their skills and understanding with progressive complexity and sophistication, through a range of different workshops early in the course. This encourages students to be more independent about their decision making which allows them to engage with personal themes, preparing them for similar delivery at Key Stage 5. We aim to create an atmosphere that encourages students to engage with the subject outside of timetabled lessons.

How is the timetabled curriculum supplemented or enriched by other approaches to learning?

All art disciplines offer extra curricular clubs that are designed to support students and further their learning outside of timetabled lessons. School trips are organised to support the development of our students skills, offering inspiration through visual imagery. We are incredibly fortunate to have built strong links with local charitable organisations such as Independent Arts. This relationship has offered a wide range of artistic experiences that students across our Federation have been able to take part in.

We pride ourselves in ensuring that we have interesting and exciting displays that flows out of the classrooms and into the communal areas. We are keen to celebrate the success of our students, giving them the opportunity to showcase their work at regular events such as our Summer term awards evenings.

In what ways does our curriculum help to develop students?

• Confidence and Creativity: The Creative Faculty is at the heart of our Federation and the art work produced in response to our curriculum can be seen as a shining example of how our students develop their creativity and confidence within the subject.
• Aspiration: The showcasing of artwork across all key stages through displays, awards evenings, assemblies and half termly prizes help to build a sense of aspiration and achievement.
• Cultural awareness: Our curriculum is designed to develop an appreciation for cultural diversity. We achieve this by taking them on a journey around the world looking at artists from a variety of different countries, cultures and backgrounds.

What forms do assessments take? What is the purpose of assessment?

Our assessment covers a range of approaches such as:

• Class based self and peer assessments.
• Regular teacher marking and verbal feedback.
• KS3 progress mats allow students the opportunity to assess their own progress and set individual targets in order to achieve a higher level of attainment.

The purpose of our assessment process is to ascertain the current level of progress for each student. This allows us to effectively monitor, plan and develop a purposeful curriculum that offers opportunity for all students to make good or better progress.

How do we know if we have a successful curriculum?

Students are able to recall skills taught within previous lessons. They are able to articulate themselves clearly about their learning journey and can identify how skills and projects link not only on a week to week basis but also termly and yearly. We recognise all abilities and adapt teaching accordingly to ensure that all students are able to engage and produce meaningful work that they are proud of.

How do we support ‘High Attaining’ pupils?

We ensure that our assessment and feedback is focused and targeted to give students the opportunity to maximise their own progress. We carefully design and select tasks that can be adapted to extend the learning of high attaining students. Our extra curricular activities offer students the opportunity to further develop skills that are taught within lessons, allowing them to explore these within different contexts.