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Welcome to Art at Weobley High School

Providing a creative outlet for students to express themselves is vital to an inclusive education. The Art Department has a crucial role to play in encouraging creativity and the use of thinking skills, which can help students to develop confidence and the ability to communicate with others. The Art Department at Weobley High School provides students with a broad artistic education that endeavors to put thinking as well as making at the centre of students learning. We introduce students to contemporary and traditional/historical Art, Design and Craft from different times and places and for different purposes.
What we teach in Art…….
Our curriculum both at KS3 and KS4 encompasses two and three dimensional work in a wide variety of media, including wire, paper mache, clay, printmaking, collage, painting and drawing. Teachers endeavor to promote a creative atmosphere where pupils feel confident to explore their own ideas. Independent learning and use of initiative are vital to the work our students produce.
Key Stage 3
During KS3 students work to a theme every year, this is broken down to a series of small units or tasks. They explore a wide variety of media and skills to prepare them for the requirements of KS4. All projects include studying the work of other artists and developing analytical skills. Work includes both 2D and 3D elements and where appropriate uses digital cameras and ICT skills, such as the Adobe Photoshop design package.
Yr 7: The World Around Us “Ways of Looking”
This unit is all about exploring the basics, through observing the formal elements of Colour, Line, Tone, Texture, Shape and Form. Students examine Natural Forms and insects, developing their ideas in drawing, painting, collage and print. They then look at their local environment and architecture, through a response to Artists, moving their ideas into basic 3D construction using a range of materials.
 
Yr 8: The Imaginative World “Ways of Feeling”
This unit focuses on investigating meaning making in Art, regarding atmosphere, feelings, emotions, narrative etc. Students explore medieval and ancient myths and legends, conceptual, expressionist and abstract art. They work in 2D drawing and painting materials on a variety of scales, and also explore 3D media, such as weaving and clay. They also learn how to make a self-portrait, exploring expression and proportion.
 
Yr 9: “ My World” A personal response to Art and Artists
This unit is broken down into a number of short projects, some of which explore the different careers that are open to students in Art & Design. Others are a shortened version of GCSE style projects, allowing the students to experience a taster of the requirements of a GCSE qualification, thereby helping them with their option choices. Students work in 2D and 3D materials, and produce a number of final pieces of work.
Key Stage 4: GCSE Art and Design with AQA exam board.
Art is a popular option choice and has two GCSE groups. Our results are successful, with a high percentage of students gaining a level 4 and above. The department offers a broad based course that requires students to complete two units of coursework and an exam project. Coursework is started straight away with a skills based unit, which explores a wide variety of techniques, including printmaking and 3D. Students then move into a personalised sustained project, exploring a theme that they have developed independently. The themes are open enough to allow students to make a personal response and work to their own strengths and interests.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Intent” tab_id=”1648030648416-69c2cd21-2d29″][vc_column_text]

Intent

The Art & Design department at Weobley High School intends that students will be asked to think about why we make art and invited to question, interpret and respond to a range of artist’s work from different times and places, for different purposes and with different meanings. They will be encouraged to engage critically with the artworks rather than trying to find a ‘true’ meaning. Thinking as well as making is at the heart of what we intend for the students in our school.
We offer a well – balanced curriculum that aims to engage and inspire students to achieve their creative potential, equipping them with the means to interpret and enjoy their surroundings and pursuits with inquisitive minds and confidence, in order to make their own independent interpretations of the world in whatever creative form they enjoy, as well as offering them and facilitating the means to access an important tool for improving mental health and wellbeing.
As well as equipping students with the skills and knowledge to choose Art confidently as a GCSE option, we aim to prepare them with an awareness of how Art, Craft and Design can be a viable career choice in today’s visual society.  We introduce projects in yr 9 that demonstrate possible Art careers and college course options and practise GCSE project formats to familiarise them with essential requirements for coursework.
As our students progress through KS3 and into KS4 we aim for them to increasingly critique the creative work they produce and make more detailed personal responses.  Students become more rigorous in their understanding of the work of other Artists, building greater knowledge of how Art, Craft and Design has helped to shape our society and how it contributes to the culture and wealth of our world.[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Implementation” tab_id=”1648030704324-e7e4f803-2abc”][vc_column_text]

Implementation

Over the KS3 years, students cover the “Universal Themes of Art”, both in terms of the basic principles of colour, form, line, shape, space, texture, and as themes that relate to our lives and our world, such as Flora and Fauna, Fantastical and Strange, Events, Human Figure, Abstract. These themes help them consider why we make Art and how it relates to our lives, both in the past and in our contemporary society.
By the end of KS3 our students have a working knowledge of the formal elements of Art and  they have become more proficient in producing creative work, exploring ideas and recording their experiences, such as drawing, painting and making from observation and imagination using a wide variety of wet and dry media and 3D materials.
Students are given the tools to respond to Artists, explore and experiment with their ideas and be able to move from dependence to a degree of independence, developing an idea from conception to outcome with some guidance, evaluating and analysing their own work and other creative works using some subject specialist language.
They have knowledge of some significant Artists, Designers, Craft makers, as well as Architecture and are able to understand some historical significance and development of Art forms.
 
Projects are carefully sequenced in order to build on prior knowledge with added complexity of concepts and use of media when revisited, in order to stretch and challenge student’s skills and understanding, maximising learning for all. Key vocabulary is integrated into each project and annotations are an important part of the learning.
The yr 7 unit: Students will be introduced to Artist’s work and imagery primarily on the themes of ‘The Natural World’, followed by “Colour and Pattern”, with a focus on buildings ” leading into  ”Architecture from Our Local Environment” and the unit will be focused on teaching the ‘Formal Elements’ of Art as basic skills. The unit is called ‘Ways of Looking’, as it will incorporate a high degree of observational work within it.
We focus on the observational aspect and basic skills strongly in yr 7 to promote quality in drawing and mark making and so that students develop their baseline skills as soon as possible on arrival at secondary school.
 
The yr 8 unit: This will be taught as a series of projects investigating meaning making in art, focusing on atmosphere, feelings, emotions, expression, storytelling etc.
The reasoning behind the sequencing of this is that students can re-visit and build on skills and techniques in drawing and painting learned in yr 7, but with another layer of understanding added to this, interpreting Abstract themes and ideas. They will be introduced to more complex ways of developing and inventing creative ideas and will be required to learn accuracy with concepts before embarking on expressive methods of adapting these ideas.
The yr 9 unit: Students will be given more elements of personal choice and will be introduced to the structure of a GCSE coursework project, specifically how to make a meaningful response to an Artist. The concepts of different Artists work will be examined, with a focus in some projects on different careers within Art & Design. Different methods of experimenting and developing ideas for Art work will be revisited in order to further develop the student’s skills. Students will respond to their chosen themes in written and visual form and through individual development, reflecting their personal choices in the form of an appropriate outcome for each Artist response. Yr 9 work is seen as a culmination of all the learning that has taken place in yr 7 and 8, with a move from dependence to a degree of independence both in outcome and choice of subject matter. We aim to embed the students’ knowledge of skills more deeply, re-visit themes with a greater degree of detail and personal development, and a greater emphasis on other Artist’s work and making an appropriate response with added elements of personal photography and depth of understanding and context. [/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Impact” tab_id=”1648030711989-b87a1689-0bd4″][vc_column_text]

Impact

At Weobley High School the impact of the Art & Design Curriculum will be such that:

• Students will leave with a well-rounded awareness of the impact that Art and Design has on society and the world around us. They will have an appreciation of creativity and a confidence that they can engage with artworks and artistic pursuits to the level that they wish to in their future lives. They will have the skills to be able to demonstrate and communicate their own creative ideas and reflect on the work of other Artists critically and in a considered manner. This will be demonstrated by individual student’s progress through GCSE results and how they compare nationally with other establishments.
• Students will feel prepared to take the next steps into their Art Education or Employment and will have a confidence in their own creative skills, having completed a well-rounded GCSE course where they have had opportunity to experiment and investigate a wide range of skills and ideas, moving from dependence to independence during the process of developing projects and re-visiting themes during KS3 into KS4.

The Art dept assess this impact by regularly monitoring the teaching and learning that takes place in our subject. Assessments take different forms, such as questioning, live marking, peer and self-assessment tasks, whole class assessment sessions, where feedback is given after books have been marked, or through individual tutorials given at GCSE level.
Teachers are clear about the assessment process and use it to help identify students who are struggling and any gaps in knowledge or common misconceptions so that teaching or learning can be adapted. We have a clear tracking system in place with a range of possible interventions that can be used where appropriate.
Monitoring is aided by the routine of weekly dept meetings, where we plan, review and measure the impact of our curriculum in the following ways:

• Books scrutinised
• Moderation of work to establish levels
• Planning assessment activities
• Reviewing grade reviews and data with progress tracking
• Reviewing and adapting/planning tasks and projects
• Pupil engagement and Teacher feedback
• Attainment and achievement outcomes
• Learning walks and lesson observations
• Planning appropriate interventions for individual students

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