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Art and Design

Art and Design at Salvatorian

“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” – Edward Hopper

Salvatorian believes that Art, craft and design education provides and inspires personal expression, cultural understanding, creative and practical responses, promoting imaginative risk taking to provide solutions to our material, emotional, social and virtual worlds.

Our curriculum aims to engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to participate in, experiment with, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.

Our aims:

Pupils should be able to think creatively and critically. They should investigate and evaluate a wide range of creative outcomes from the past and present to develop rigorous understanding of the many disciplines within art, craft and design and how they shape our history and future. 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.

Students will acquire skills that enable them to draw, paint, sculpt, print, photograph, design and make personal works of Art. We aim to make the curriculum sequential in the skills learnt, starting with the fundamental elements of drawing and colour theory, then allowing students to apply this essential knowledge while exploring painting, 3D work, printing, design, and critically understanding and appreciating the work of others.

In year 9, students begin to develop personal work with more advanced media and materials, preparing them for the rigorous demands and mastery expected at GCSE Fine Art or Graphics at KS4. Knowledge and practical skills underpin each other, and students systematically acquire both alongside each other in the curriculum. Learning about Artists and various techniques is intrinsically tied into all practical lessons and homework, allowing students to truly learn about Art both historically and in modern Britain, while developing their own practical knowledge and skills.  

Our Facilities include:

  • Two large and fully equipped Art specialist rooms with a separate Kiln Room
  • A dedicated 24-computer graphics suite with graphic tablets and access to the Adobe Creative Suite
  • A technician prep-room with access to laser-cutting, 3D modellers and a 3D Printer.
  • As we are in the same faculty as Design and Technology, we share 3D and resistant materials facilities in order to allow our pupils to extend their creative intentions in any media or materials.

Want to find out more?

Contact Mr G James at G.james@salvatorian.harrow.sch.uk

Our Staff

Mr G James – Head of Department

Ms I Phillips – Teacher of Art and DT

Ms J Summers – Teacher of Art and DT

Mr J Elder – Art Technician

Key Stage Three

In Keystage 3, every student will study Art and Design for at least one hour per week, with the option to extend this through extra-curricular clubs at lunchtime and after school.

Class sizes are smaller than average classes, in order to focus on the practical demands of being in the Art room and handling materials. This allows pupils and teachers space and freedom to focus on mastering skills and generating visions in sketchbooks and other media.

Year 7: A Strong Foundation

It is extremely important to start with a strong foundation in Art and Design. Students in Year 7 will begin with the three traditional pillars of Art and Design: Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture. Within these three disciplines, they will focus on the Elements of Art: Line, Tone, Space, Shape, Form, colour, and Value. Students will start at the beginning, learning age-old mark-making techniques and understanding where drawing comes from and what it is. They focus on drawing in other cultures such as African Patterns and learn about historical knowledge and cultural capital such as Van Gogh and Impressionism. They will also try a range of experimental drawing methods, and this will be linked to contextual knowledge as they explore the Artist Allison Lapper. This continues as they learn colour theory, tieing in contextual Art in with disciplinary knowledge, as students learn how to paint Still Life and Landscapes and look at Artists such as Patrick Caulfield, Henri Matisse and David Hockney, while also delving into the Romanticism period. Finally, as students learn about sculpture through clay and other media, they look at the history of Pop Art and how it links to advertisement.

Year 8: Developing and Experimenting

As students progress to Year 8, they begin branching out into a wider history of Art movements such as Surrealism, Futurism and Modern Art. They will study engaging and relevant projects that springboard this contextual knowledge into action and allow for focus on the subject. Projects include Organic Mechanic, Surrealism and Visual Effects in Film, Under the Sea and Environmental Art.

Year 9: Personalising and Mastering

In Year 9, we want to ensure students continue to strengthen their skills and broaden their understanding of what Art is, while also helping prepare students who may wish to take it for GCSE. We study Portraiture, Architecture, Graphic Novels, and Political Art. Throughout these projects, students explore a wider range of media and a mixture of historical and contextual Artists, while also exploring the potential careers Art and Design can lead to. Each project ends with a personal response.

GCSE

At GCSE, we offer two main qualifications with the board AQA:

Fine Art

Graphic Communication (Graphic Design)

At GCSE, Art and Design students build upon the skills acquired at KS3 developing a personal and meaningful relationship with Art and Design. GCSE is allocated two hours per week as an optional subject. Students are entered under the AQA examination board and our series code is 8202 and 8204.

Lessons are project-based, where pupils focus more explicitly on four key assessment areas of study when producing their personal responses. A01 Develop, A02 Refine, A03 Record and A04 Present. Both GCSE Fine Art, and Graphics, begin with a foundation project to introduce students to a broad range of media and skills, before focussing on project-based learning.

The aim of GCSE Art and Design is to embed a deep understanding of the creative process required and assessment objectives covered under the GCSE specification. Attention to the understanding and use of key vocabulary in analysing and evaluating is held as a high priority in all classroom and homework tasks to ensure students reflect appropriately on their outcomes. Our aim is to ensure that students are constantly refining and developing ideas and exploring using appropriate media meeting the needs of the portfolio and exam requirements.

In Year 10 students begin their coursework with a foundation term, before studying various projects. In the Summer of Year 10, students select their pwjn project to study until December in Year 11. This is worth 60% of the overall GCSE.

In January of Year 11 all Art students begin their ESA (Externally Set Assignment) component, worth 40% of the overall GCSE. This consists of a preparation period, followed by a 10 hour supervised period in late April.

Students are encouraged to visit the department outside of lesson times to gain additional teacher support, use the materials available and work in a quiet, spacious environment.

Students are expected to spend at least 2 hours per week on homework. A wide range of Art materials are also available to buy from the Art Department.

The GCSE curriculum allows students to further explore their love of Art and Design and hopes to inspire pupils to further pursue their talents.

Links

Exam Board

AQA – GCSE Art and Design 

Art resources and Galleries to visit

Tate

Royal Academy 

Saatchi Gallery 

Student Artwork

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