Art
Interim Head of Department: Mr Conti
The Art Department at AGFS aims to ensure that all student artists whether studying art up to KS3, KS4 or beyond, are able to:
-Explore the personal, social and moral value of studying the subject
-Grow into artists who are reflective, thoughtful and skilled in expressing their ideas and opinions
-Be skilled in using a wide range of materials and techniques.
-Demonstrate sound subject knowledge and a high level of practical skills
-Be confident in constructive critique of both their own work and that of others.
-Explore the world of art through discovering artists and artwork which will provoke a reaction
-Be responsive artists who have something to say about the world.
-Feel the world of higher education in art, gallery private views and careers in the creative industries are realistic and reachable goals
The AGFS Art Department is a place where student artists learn the traditional skills, embrace contemporary ideas and create exemplary outcomes.
Despite the small nature of the Art Department, all staff involved are highly professional, motivated individuals who continue with their art practice in some capacity outside of the classroom. Involvement in local artist/ teacher groups, roles as exam board moderators and involvement in ventures such as sketchbook circles see’s staff be up to date and informed practioners which can then filter down into development of curriculum planning and lesson delivery to the benefit of the student artists.
Key Stage 3 Curriculum
Our Key Stage 3 Curriculum provides students with a breadth and depth of knowledge and builds logically into preparing them for the Key Stage 4 Curriculum. The foundations of being a skillful and confident student artist starts within these early years, with independence and an understanding of who they are as a student artist being the aim as they go through our five year plan into KS4 and beyond AGFS.
Year 7:
| Content covered | What is being assessed in the end of term exam | |
| Term 1 | Observational drawing | Ability to explore materials techniques and processes, along with inspiring artists to inform their final piece/s |
| Term 2 | Colour theory | Ability to explore materials and artists to inform their colour based final piece/s |
| Term3 | Ordinary/ Extraordinary EOY exam | Students ability to explore the past years materials, techniques and processes, along with gaining inspirations from a chosen artist to create their own devised final piece around the exam theme. |
Year 8:
| Content covered | What is being assessed in the end of term exam | |
| Term 1 | Working with ink | Students ability to explore ink based materials and technique, in order to create their own final outcome in their chosen technque |
| Term 2 | Graphic Design- poster design | Explore the elements of graphic design and how to use and create them in a poster around their favoured area of popular culture |
| Term3 | ‘Forces’ EOY exam | Students ability to explore the past years materials, techniques and processes, along with gaining inspirations from a chosen artist to create their own devised final piece around the exam theme. |
Year 9:
| Content covered | What is being assessed in the end of term exam | |
| Term 1 | Positive portraits | Students ability to create a portrait of themselves in either a figurative or non- figurative way, having been inspired by portrait artists |
| Term 2 | 4th plinth sculpture competition | Exploration of sculpture materials, processes and artists in making an entry for the London Mayors 4th plinth Schools competition |
| Term3 | ‘Order/ Disorder’ EOY exam | Students ability to explore the past years materials, techniques and processes, along with gaining inspirations from a chosen artist to create their own devised final piece around the exam theme. |
Key stage 4 curriculum
Students work on their coursework unit which is worth 60% of their grade from year 10 until January of year 11. This will see them explore materials, processes and techniques in order to create a number of outcomes based on their own ideas. These will be informed by artist research and responses. From January of Year 11 until the end of the course, students will work in a similar way around a given exam theme from the exam board, resulting in a grade for this section of their qualification which amounts for the remaining 40% of their overall grade.
Year 10:
| Topics | What is being assessed in the end of term exam | |
| Term 1 | Diverse Drawing | Further exploration of drawing materials and drawing techniques in order to create a large scale |
| Term 2 | World around you- natural forms | Ability to experiment with materials and produce a number of different outcomes |
| Term3 | World around you- mock exam | Ability to independently devise and realise their own ideas and final outcomes, relating to the projects theme |
Year 11:
| Topics | What is being assessed in the end of term exam | |
| Term 1 | I,ME, MINE- Mock exam | Ability to independently devise and realise their own ideas and final outcomes, relating to the projects theme
Full Mock Language Paper 1 and 2 |
| Term 2 | Externally set exam-40% of overall grade
|
Prepare, experiment and realise an independently set outcome based upon the exam theme. A body of preparation work along with a final timed 10 hour outcome will be assessed using the 4 assessment objectives as per the coursework period |
| Term3 | Externally set exam-40% of overall grade
|
As term 2.
10 hour timed final outcome takes place over 2 days. |
Key stage 4 revision
KS4 revision in art is based upon the students ability to be highly independent in their own time in developing each of the assessment objectives, evidencing these to a high standard.This is aided by clear termly checklists from staff along with individualised feedback in order to assist student artists in realising their own planned intentions and final outcomes. Learning to manage their time and workload outside of the lesson through both I.L time and studio time offered is vital in ensuring a successful grade at the end of the course as well as a smooth transition into further studies of the subject
Feedback
Student artists receive feedback in the following ways:
- Pupils will receive individual and/or group verbal feedback every single lesson – this will not be evidenced with gimmicks like a ‘verbal feedback stamp’ or sticker
- In art, pupils will receive personally focused ‘next steps’ once a term at KS3, in response to a project and final outcome/s. These will take the form of staff signing and dating the relevant level for each key construct within the relevant project sheet within the students sketchbook. KS4 students will receive this within the back/ front inside cover of their books due to no written feedback to be visible as per exam board standards. This feedback will be written by the teacher and then responded to in blue pen underneath by the student artist
- KS4 Individual tutorial sheets will add more in depth and personalised feedback and next steps for KS4 students during independent stages of a project or mock exam/ external exam process. These will support the more regular but ‘bullet pointed’ targets within the back/ front of KS4 students sketchbooks
- Students will be guided on how to make their art sketchbooks be presented in neat, clear and inventive ways. At KS3 students will be expected to title and date pages. Copies of their work will be stuck in flat or folded at most in half. At KS4 students are NOT to title and date pages in line with exam board expectations and as per a professional artists sketchbook. They will be guided on how to best present work based on the assessment objective it is evidencing within their sketchbook, with exemplar work being shown as guidance.Work which is not up to standard will be re-done.
- Teachers when writing feedback will do so in red pen within books at KS3 & KS4, however this must be confined to the back/ front inside assessment page of KS4 sketchbooks as per exam board guidelines. Practical responses will see the student date the bottom corner of the page with the date they refine the work at KS3 and by students responding underneath the teacher targets in blue pen and by dating when these were completed. Written tasks at KS3 will be marked with red pen and students are to respond in blue pen and within a yellow highlighter box. Written work at KS4 will not be marked in the book as per exam board guidelines, but guidance can be offered through assessment sheets in the students sketchbook or verbally.
- Peer marking will be done in green pen at KS3. Any peer marking at KS4 will be done in the form of temporary methods (discussions/post it notes/ sheets) so as not to remain in their sketchbooks at moderation. Peer marking will be linking to the examination success criteria so that it remains meaningful across all KS’s.
- Feedback in Art comes in a number of forms. These include: Teacher verbal feedback; Teacher marking; peer assessments; peer verbal feedback/ written feedback(WWW/EBI based on assessment descriptors/ visual exemplars); Self-assessment against assessment objectives/ mark schemes and exam board standard exemplars.
- Subject specific key words are addressed where appropriate. KS3 books will have the correct spelling added by the teacher into their books using red pen. At KS4, this correct spelling will be either given within feedback or via temporary post it notes to then be redrafted by the student in their final version
- If class or small groups within a class have similar targets to improve, teachers may issue coloured dots/ specific code which correlate with generic targets. Students can identify their target based on the statement near their coloured dot on the board.
- Assessment and feedback will inform development of curriculum plans and MTP’s both during delivery of these across KS’s and within yearly reviews of the department’s curriculum delivery.
Ambition and careers
With the creative industries accounting for a large percentage of Britain’s yearly GDP and the country being known for its flourishing visual arts, film, fashion and animation industries around the world, art is clearly a subject which any creative individual should consider an exciting career in, with any of the following being a small percentage of career avenues which can be considered with the qualification of art, craft and design:
painter, photographer, sculptor, architect, fashion designer, interior designer, jewellery designer, textile designer, product designer, graphic designer, computer game designer, animator, film maker, illustrator, children’s book illustrator, graphic novelist, theatre set designer, advertiser, creative designer at a marketing company, tattooist.
Enrichment and Drop Down Days
Enrichment and DDD’s aim to broaden students understanding of visual art skills and careers through a range of the following types of days and enrichments:
- Gallery visits
- Artists studio visits
- Work on location
- Young artist workshops
- Gallery/ artist led workshops
- Whole year group/ school projects/ collaborations
