Have you ever been rendered speechless by a beautiful piece of artwork? Left standing still in awe, wondering how did they do that? Learning to draw is hard, just like learning to play an instrument, speak a new language or master a sport. But with the right attitude, effort, and a sound method, you can achieve results to be proud of. If you know what to do, what to look for and what sequence to follow, you can make all the wonderful ideas in your head come to life. ’Knowledge is power’.

Often, in education, Art is seen as an outlet for creativity and expression alone. Disappointingly, a subject some students choose if they want to relax for a couple of hours a week, ‘a balancer’ to the academic subjects. A vulnerable subject within the whole school curriculum, there has previously been a common viewpoint among students, parents and unfortunately teachers too, that Art is less important. It is not. Here at Saint Martin’s, Art is important, just like you are.

Previously, we have delivered a KS3 curriculum with creativity at its heart. Students gained experience in a range of media and had fun investigating the different genres of art. Most enjoyed the lessons but not all succeeded or made progress. Those that were good at art when they began their journey, remained good at art and those that were artistically challenged were left feeling frustrated that their artwork did not look like the image they held in their imaginations.

As a teacher, one of the most rewarding challenges is changing the attitudes previously mentioned. Positively addressing these misconceptions, shifting mind-sets, and then improving capabilities of those students who arrive at the door, telling us firmly that they cannot draw. We can all draw. We are born with the ability, all of us, but if that ability is not nurtured, it is lost. To achieve the realism that so many of us believe art should be, we may need a little guidance in reviving and developing this ability.

Our Art curriculum will provide you with that guidance, so that you will be able to say ‘Wow, I drew that’.  With knowledge as the foundation for everything we do in Art, you will make artwork to be proud of, communicate your thoughts and opinions, and realise your own imaginative, creative ideas or designs. You will also be able to evaluate, critique and learn from other artists effectively. How exciting!

‘Knowing the best that has been thought and said’ and that we are loved.

Our vision is to engage all students and ensure that they end their artistic journey, whether that is at KS3 or 4, feeling like artists. Our curriculum is designed to enable all pupils to learn about some of the best artists, genres, and cultures within art, but in quite a radical move, we specialise in one genre within art at Saint Martin’s. This is taught through the expertise of specialist teachers who endeavour to inspire by conveying their knowledge and love of their subject to ensure that pupils engage fully. With knowledge at the heart of our curriculum, students will become masters of Portraiture. By specialising in one genre, breaking down the knowledge and skills needed, we can become experts in that field, and in the future, the knowledge of this challenging subject will support you to create any artwork you wish.

During year 7, you will cover the following topics in Art…

Bootcamp:

Baseline Assessment – Austin’s butterfly. The power of descriptive feedback, how we can look, listen, and learn to achieve excellence in what we do, including our ability to continually improve and innovate.

Routines and expectations specific to Art, as well as whole school.

Health and Safety in the Art Studio.

Building blocks to success: Formal Elements in Art – Tools and basic application techniques.

Portraiture: Drawing

We will learn about the history of Portraiture and how it has changed over time, and you will be introduced to portraits from a range of histories and cultures. You will expand your artistic vocabulary to support you in talking and writing about your work as it progresses. When it comes to drawing, we will go back to basics to clear up any bad habits, learn how to control our tools and apply the formal elements. During our first project, you will be taught how to draw isolations of facial features realistically and in our second project, this learning will be put into practice, when we learn how to use the grid method and develop this skill to draw a full portrait. We make copies of existing drawings so that students can see and replicate how the artist has applied the media and achieved their intended outcomes.

Portraiture: Painting

To support long term memory, the structure from our first project is repeated and built on. This time, we will learn about artists who have been inspired by Colour as a theme within their work. You will expand your artistic vocabulary to support you in talking and writing about your work, and that of others’. We will go back to the basics of colour theory and paint application, learning how to control our tools and apply the formal elements using watercolour paint. During our first project, you will be taught how to paint isolations of facial features realistically and in our second project, this learning will be put into practice, when we learn how to paint a full portrait. We make copies of existing paintings so that students can see and replicate how the artist has applied the media and achieved their intended outcomes.

Identity: Personal Outcomes

As pupils progress, equipped with the knowledge and skills to achieve high quality art, they are challenged to design and create their own self-portrait. We think critically about how Portraits can reflect and shape our history and life experiences, as well as convey our beliefs, cultures, and feelings, to develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design.

YR7 Knowledge Organisers

·         Formal Elements (language and application).

·         Portraiture timeline (many of these artists have artwork displayed at the National Gallery in London, so you will experience the real thing during our Yr7 London trip).

·         Colour Theory

·         Artists inspired by colour.

During year 8, you will cover the following topics in Art…

Bootcamp:

Baseline Assessment – Recap of knowledge taught during Yr7.

Routines and expectations specific to Art, as well as whole school – recap

Health and Safety in the Art Studio – recap

Perspective: Drawing

We will learn about the history of Perspective and how it is used within contemporary practice and Design careers. You will expand your artistic vocabulary to support you in talking and writing about your work as it progresses. During our first project, you will be taught how to draw using linear perspective, leading to draw and paint a street Lowry Street scene. We make copies of existing drawings so that students can see and replicate how the artist has applied the media and achieved their intended outcomes.

Perspective: Mixed Media

Building on our understanding of Perspective, we move towards Aerial Perspective, investigating early use within Chinese landscape paintings. Expanding our experience with watercolour paints, students make their own landscape painting. Among others’, we also explore female abstract artist, Georgia O’Keeffe, who was inspired by the Mexican landscapes in which she lived, creating our own oil pastel pieces.

Proportion

Investigating how the human figure has been represented in art, from early cave paintings, life drawing, photography and sculpture, through to movement, abstractions, and the human figure as medium. Through drawing, we learn about body proportions and alignment rules, foreshortening and obscuring the figure.

Final Piece: ‘It’s just a matter of perspective’

In a new direction, towards the end of Year 8, our students will research the artist Magritte, with particular focus on his work involving perspective and proportion. Students will consolidate their learning to design and create a personal response to the theme ‘It’s just a matter of perspective’ Creating a Surreal room, evidencing their knowledge of perspective combined with a self-portrait to demonstrate their knowledge of proportion.

YR8 Knowledge Organisers

·         Perspective – History and application in art

·         Artists using perspective

·         Proportion – the human figure and alignment rules

·         The Human Figure

·         Surrealism – Magritte

During year 9, you will cover the following topics in Art…

We structure the Yr9 curriculum to somewhat echo that of our GCSE components in order to introduce and familiarise students to the expectations of Yr10 and 11.

Our theme in Yr9 is Animals in Art and our aim is to increase students’ confidence in using a greater range of media and techniques taught through a didactic method. As in Years 7 & 8, we often use visualisers, demonstrating to our students exactly what we expect to see and how to achieve their intentions. Students acquire and develop technical skills through working with a broad range of media, materials, techniques, processes, such as drawing, painting, printing and ceramics.

Students will develop their knowledge and understanding of art, craft and design in historical and contemporary contexts, and cultures by investigating and analysing the work of others critically, through observation, discussion, written and practical work.

With increasing independence, creativity and imagination, students are guided to develop and refine their own ideas and personal outcomes.

As part of Careers week, students will also have the opportunity in Yr9 to gain insight into the practices of individuals, organisations and creative and cultural industries.

KS3 Assessment opportunities

Your work will be assessed in the following ways;

• Baseline test at the beginning of Yr7
• KO Quizzes every week – low stake.
• KO Quiz at the end of our project – high stake.
• Classwork to assess your art making ability.
• End-of-year exams assess both drawing ability and knowledge.
• Yr9 students will work towards a personal outcome, created during a 10-hour supervised session, similar to that of a GCSE in Art and Design.

During year 10, you will cover the following topics in Art…

Our OCR GCSE in Art and Design: Fine Art, helps students develop knowledge, skills, and understanding to enable them to express their creativity and imagination through responses to visual and written stimuli, in particular within the theme of Portraiture. Throughout Yr10, we work on our Portfolio; titled ‘A Person of Importance’ which is 60% of the total GCSE. We have chosen the challenging theme of Portraiture for our Portfolios to excite and stimulate our students. Having designed our curriculum to complement the mastery of one genre, our students are confident, knowledgeable, and proficient in Portraiture when they start their GCSE so building on this genre encourages and allows them to thrive and succeed.

Between September and April focussing on AO1 (develop) & AO3 (refine), to record our observations of the theme and investigate contextual sources to help us develop ideas. Artists investigated can vary, depending on our students’ strengths and interests but our favourites are contemporary artists Mark Powell, Agnes Cecile and Barbara Walker.

Later on in the year, we actively engage in the creative process of making art, where students will begin to design and practise (AO2 – refine) our own artwork, informed by research, and with increasing independence. These personal responses, (AO4 – present) are created during a 10-hour supervised session (over two consecutive days during the mock exam timetable) and encourage students to become confident in taking risks and learn from experience when exploring and experimenting with ideas, processes, media, materials and techniques.

During year 11, you will cover the following topics in Art…

Beginning in September, we will continue with component one, Portfolio. Building on our strengths towards completion in December, where final personal, meaningful outcomes are created in a 10-hour supervised session.

Between January and April students work towards their Externally Set Task. Papers are released to students on 2^nd January, and will give learners a choice of five themes, each with a choice of written and/or visual starting points or stimuli. From this paper, learners are expected to choose one option for which they will generate an appropriate personal response of one or more artefact(s)/product(s)/personal outcome(s) within a 10-hour supervised time period.

Art Trips

Yr7 National Gallery (as part of Year 7 London Trip)

Yr8 Local Gallery visit (possibly to include a workshop)

Yr9 either the National Gallery, Tate Modern or Tate Britain

Yr10 National Portrait Gallery, London

 

Extra-Curricular Activities

KS3 Ceramics Club

Lunch time ‘Free Drawing’ – a chance for students to use the studio for their own artwork. Seasonal activities.

KS4 lunch time drop in for one-to-one support

KS4 Intervention