National Curriculum Aims

The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:

• produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
• become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
• evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
• know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.

Assessment Progress Map in KS3 and KS4

KS3 Art

In art, craft and design, pupils explore visual, tactile and other sensory experiences to communicate ideas and meanings. They work with traditional and new media, developing confidence, competence, imagination and creativity. They learn to appreciate and value images and artefacts across times and cultures, and to understand the contexts in which they were made. In art, craft and design, pupils reflect critically on their own and other people’s work, judging quality, value and meaning. They learn to think and act as artists, craftspeople and designers, working creatively and intelligently. They develop an appreciation of art, craft and design, and its role in the creative and cultural industries that enrich their lives.

Units of Work

GCSE Art and Design

Exam Board: AQA

Vibrant and dynamic, this course is designed to inspire and bring out the best in all students, allowing progression from Key Stage 3, whilst equipping them with the skills to continue the subject with confidence at A-level and beyond.

The qualification features a wide range of possible titles including Art, craft and design, Fine art, Graphic communication, Textile design, Three-dimensional design and Photography.

With two components, comprising a ‘Portfolio’ selected from the course of study and an ‘Externally set assignment’, the specification provides a range of creative, exciting and stimulating opportunities to develop and explore personal interests in art and design.

Knowledge and understanding is developed during the course through a variety of learning experiences and approaches, including engagement with sources, allowing exploration of skills, creativity and communication of original ideas.

These skills are demonstrated through the development, refinement, recording, realisation and presentation of their ideas through a portfolio and by responding to an externally set assignment.

Content Overview

Fine Art: explore an idea, convey an experience or respond to a theme or issue of personal significance.

In Component 1 and Component 2 students are required to work in one or more area(s) of fine art.

Students study:

• how sources relate to people, contexts and issues;
• how ideas, themes, forms, feelings and concerns can inspire personal responses;
• the ways in which meanings, ideas and intentions relevant to fine art can be communicated.

Within the context of fine art, students must demonstrate the ability to use fine art techniques and processes, appropriate to students’ personal intentions.

Units of Work and Examinations

A Level Art and Design

Exam Board: AQA

Subject Content: Fine Art

• Students will be introduced to a variety of experiences that explore a range of fine art media, processes and techniques. They should be made aware of both traditional and new media.
• Students will explore the use of drawing for different purposes, using a variety of methods and media on a variety of scales. Students may use sketchbooks/workbooks/journals to underpin their work where appropriate.
• Students will explore relevant images, artefacts and resources relating to a range of art, craft and design, from the past and from recent times, including European and non-European examples. This should be integral to the investigating and making processes.
• Students’ responses to these examples must be shown through practical and critical activities that demonstrate their understanding of different styles, genres and traditions.
• Students should be aware of the importance of process as well as product.

Areas of study

Students are required to work in one or more area(s) of Fine art. They may explore overlapping areas and combinations of areas.

Knowledge and understanding

• How ideas, feelings and meanings can be conveyed and interpreted in images and artefacts in the chosen area(s) of study within fine art;
• Historical and contemporary developments and different styles and genres
• How images and artefacts relate to social, environmental, cultural and/or ethical contexts, and to the time and place in which they were created
• Continuity and change in different styles, genres and traditions relevant to fine art
• A working vocabulary and specialist terminology that is relevant to their chosen area(s) of fine art.

Skills and Techniques

• Appreciation of different approaches to recording images, such as observation, analysis, expression and imagination
• Awareness of intended audience or purpose for their chosen area(s) of fine art
• Understanding of the conventions of figurative/representational and abstract/non-representational imagery or genres
• Appreciation of different ways of working, such as, using underpainting, glazing, wash and impasto; modelling, carving, casting, constructing, assembling and welding; etching, engraving, drypoint, mono printing, lino printing, screen printing, photo silkscreen and lithography
• Understanding of pictorial space, composition, rhythm, scale and structure.
• Appreciation of colour, line, tone, texture, shape and form.

Units of Work and Examinations