KS4 Curriculum

GCSE Art involves a great deal of hard work and can take pupils many hours to complete their work to a high level. However, it continues to be a subject that pupils really enjoy and are always willing to dedicate time and effort into.

The level of pupils gaining a C or above is consistently 90%+ every year.

STILL-LIFE PROJECT

The first project involves a lot of time spent observational drawing. This is to help pupils develop and improve their drawing skills and use of line, tone and shade. This will prove useful in their 2nd project and externally set task. It will also give them a structured way of moving from realism into more abstract work giving them the opportunity to work in a variety of media.

The aim of this project is to become familiar with how other artists have used Still-life in their work. To improve their observational drawing skills by becoming more detailed, tonal and accurate – this often then gives the pupils a great deal of confidence to approach the rest of their GCSE at a much higher standard. They are given the opportunity to work in a large variety of media including photography, sculpture, printing, ink, paint, textiles etc. They are taught skills to produce designs that are based on their own personal ideas and those of the artists studied showing creativity and risk taking.  The project culminates with a personal and creative final piece – the variety and originality each year is inspiring.

ARTIST PROJECT

The Artist project allows pupils much more freedom to work to their interests and strengths. Pupils are introduced to a whole wealth of artists and themes to inspire them and then work in a structured way to develop their work independently. Pupils continually have 1-1 tutorials to develop their own individual learning plan that allows them to successfully cover all 4 Art GCSE assessment objectives and to work imaginatively and creatively in secure and personal way. Pupils research artists, learn to understand the meaning and style of their chosen artist and then apply it to their own personal ideas. Pupils then experiment with media, techniques and composition and learn to critically assess and improve their work. A final piece is then produced.

Pupils proudly exhibit their course work around school towards the end of year 11.