Art Curriculum – intent over the various key stages.

At Balcarras, we recognise the vital role of art and design in allowing curiosity, creativity and self –expression to develop alongside resilience, confidence and critical thinking skills. Fine Art embodies some of the highest forms of human creativity. A high-quality Art and Design education should engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of Art. As pupils progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of Art and Design. Year on year, our curriculum introduces every member of our school community to a wide range of art and artists, including those from different periods and cultures. This in turn creates world citizens with an understanding of how art impacts and enhances societies and our surroundings. This will enable pupils to contribute as confident citizens and future professionals to the culture, creativity, economic success, leisure, material and emotional well-being of our society within both national and global contexts. Balcarras’s Art and Design Department aims to ensure that all pupils: develop the confidence to produce creative, personal work. We aim to provide a platform and environment in which pupils can explore their ideas and record their experiences, all whilst becoming proficient in drawing, painting, printing, sculpture and other Art, Craft and Design techniques. Pupils will evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of Art. They will encounter, analyse and interact with a range of diverse works of Art, craft markers and designers, opening their eyes to the highly visual world we are surrounded by. Implementation Key Stage 3 Year 7 Students start their Art journey with a focus on drawing skills, observational skills, colour skills, composition and texture. They also develop the confidence to use a range of materials. They focus on artists such as Van Gogh and Delauney to inspire their work. Year 8 -In year 8, students build on the skills they learnt in year 7. There is definitely a conscious move to be looking at a more global art history. A trip to Pitt Rivers Museum plays a pivotal part inspiring our young artists and designers. Year 9- Students begin their journey into looking at greater depth into why artists pursue the work they do. They look closer to home looking at self-portraiture. They study the work of existing artists and develop their own skills by experimenting with different media Year 10- In Year 10, students begin their GCSE course, they start by looking at Composition and design in artworks and through a series of ever increasing and complex instructions develop an understanding of Abstract art. They then move onto studying more drawing Based activities looking at mark making, materials and surfaces. This work is a revisit to work they touched upon at KS3 but now with added depth. Through experimentation they improve their skills massively and be able to confidently choose media of their choice. The students then move on to start to develop their own line of enquiry. This is scaffolded with the departments help. They have the opportunity to study the work of a range of artists, using them as inspiration, and experimenting with their own work. Year 11 In Year 11, the students will complete their portfolios and start the exam work; they research artists, continue to experiment and develop their skills in preparation for their final exam work.

Welcome

The art department at Balcarras School consists of 4 studios and five full time specialist art teachers. All the studios are purpose built and we welcome the opportunities offered at all key stages to work both in 2D and 3D. The department stocks a range of equipment and materials including paper, card, clay, plaster of Paris, printing inks, paint and a range of graphic media etc. All art rooms are equipped with computers, scanners and data projectors and the students are encouraged to use ICT as an integral part of their learning; especially when it comes to research.

We are also increasingly seeing much more use of photography through the various key stages, and again this is whole heartedly encouraged. In ICT students are taught how to use Photoshop from an early age and we are certainly seeing this come more into play with their art work. We are delighted to see work of excellence and a very positive commitment to the subject from pupils/students at all three key stages.

Art Learning journey

Curriculum map Key Stage 3

Curriculum map GCSE

 Curriculum  map A level