Curriculum

Our aim

“You can’t use up creativity, the more you use the more you have” Oscar Wild

The Colne School of Art believes that everyone is creative, everyone has ideas, but how best can we communicate those ideas to the world using visual language?

We aim to make Art accessible to all through a varied curriculum that encourages exploration; cultivating students who are resilient, independent, and culturally aware with a sense of discovery. We hope our students leave having gained life-long skills in being able to explore and communicate ideas.

“Art is the most intense form of individualism that the world has known”

Every artist is different and we encourage pupils to be creative, take risks and develop their own artistic style to help communicate individual ideas. Our teachers aim to inspire students through exciting lessons that celebrate student’s work and make Art engaging and enjoyable to all students.

Cultural Capital

In Art subjects we are in a strong position to enhance our student’s cultural capital in lessons and with extra or super curricular experiences too.

Our Art curriculum is built upon an understanding of art history and artists. In lessons we expose students to art all the way from the Renaissance to contemporary art practices and to art styles from across the world. Students get the chance to debate and discuss controversial artworks in lessons and learn how to articulate their opinions on art. At GCSE level we encourage our students to see ‘the bigger picture’ and explore how practitioners are influenced by the world around them. We also encourage our GCSE students to create responses inspired by their own perceptions of the world they live in.

In addition to lessons, all students are given the chance to explore a new art subject in the termly ‘Spotlight’. Plus KS3 students have the chance to take part in super curricular art workshops each year and GCSE students use gallery visits to experience art first-hand and enhance their exploration of new projects.

Curriculum Journey

This is a map to show the learning journey in Art/Photography from year 6 through to further education and possible careers.

ART Curriculum journey.pdf

Overview of the learning journey in Art

Year 7

Year 7 in Art is all about learning ‘Core Skills’.

Students study three projects, one each term. I, Me, Mine is an exploration of self-portraiture, developing drawing skills, use of facial proportions, basic painting and colour theory. In the Formal Elements of Art project students explore the use of line, tone, shape, colour and pattern in artist’s work, developing skills with different media, experiment with applying the formal elements and also look at 20th Century Art History. Finally, students learn about Perspective and Composition, developing knowledge and application of linear, visual, aerial perspective and foreshortening

Year 8

Year 8 in Art is all about learning ‘Broadening Skills’- expanding on the core knowledge learnt in year 7 by exploring traditional, contemporary and cultural art as well as printmaking and ceramics.

Students study three projects, one each term. In Chiaroscuro, students explore exaggerated tone in Art and Photography to create a still life drawing and experiment with printmaking to create a background for their still life. In Op Art they develop knowledge of the Op Art movement and the contemporary artist Karan Singh to create an artwork that helps to refine oil pastel skills. Finally, students learn about Animals in Other Cultures, developing skills needed to make a ceramic plate and learn how animals have been used as symbolism in Art from a range of countries around the world.

Year 9

Year 9 in Art is all about learning ‘Transitional Skills’- pupils are taught in longer projects marked in a similar way to GCSE. They are given further creative freedom, and chance to apply prior knowledge and skills. Transitional skills include how to analyse artists' work and how to develop and refine a final piece idea.

Students study two projects in year 9. In Pop Art they develop knowledge of the Art movement, create a large Lichtenstein inspired artwork, refine painting skills and experiment with digital art inspired by Warhol. Masterworks; a more independent project where pupils extend their investigative art skills and learn how to develop and refine a personal idea inspired by a chosen classic artwork.

Year 10

Year 10 in GCSE Fine Art is all about learning ‘Advancing Skills’- Pupils advance and translate their skills to suit GCSE style projects. They re-visit subjects such as self-portraits, still life and landscape, perspective, colour theory but in more advanced ways using skills suited to GCSE Fine Art.

It begins with Autobiography; a project based on portraiture. Students will look at Lucian Freud and learn to use acrylic paints to make brutally honest portraits in his style, they also learn how to convey identity through art. In Cubism students revisit still life drawing and explore methods of portraying more than a traditional view of an object in their artwork. In the summer term of year 10 students begin preparation for a mock exam based on the theme A Sense of Place; learning how artists have been inspired by the world around them and developing landscape drawing, painting and mixed media skills. They sit the 5 hour mock exam at the end of year 10 and create an artwork inspired by what they have learnt in the project.

Year 11

Year 11 in GCSE Fine Art is all about learning ‘Embedding Skills’- students need to show that prior learning is embedded in final coursework and exam projects. They are able to apply skills and knowledge with independence and increasing individuality.

From September students work on their major project Expressionism; pupils develop mark-making skills and expressive painting skills learning to become more confident with brushstrokes. Finally, the Externally Set Assignment; a theme set by the exam board, students have 10 weeks to prepare a project and final idea, then 10 hours in exam conditions to create their piece.