The Creative Arts Faculty comprises Fine Art, Textiles, 3D Design, Photography and Graphic Communication.
The Creative Arts have a special place in the curriculum, and we believe passionately that effective teaching of our subjects will instil a broader passion for learning in all students. This faculty seeks to encourage all learners to believe in themselves by achieving and enjoying success. The Creative Arts enable individuals with the freedom to express themselves through an informed knowledge of visual language and culture. We will inspire our learners to develop and hone their own creativity using the processes of investigation, understanding and making.
Creative Arts subjects are of ever-increasing importance in a world in which the amount of information transmitted visually, through the mass media, is growing constantly. The ability to understand and make use of visual language is an increasingly valuable skill. An understanding of the creative process and an ability to make informed critical judgments is integral to this.
The faculty has a skills-based philosophy built on the belief that a sound technical knowledge is essential if creative ideas are to be successfully realised. To achieve this, we follow schemes of work which introduce students to a variety of increasingly challenging subject specific techniques throughout Key Stage 3. Drawing from direct observation is a core skill that is fundamental to achievement and is used throughout the faculty at every stage of development.
Visual literacy, and the awareness of aesthetic considerations, are fundamental to the creative process. The faculty is committed to fostering this through the study of artists, craftspeople and designers and the examination of objects, products and artefacts. We will teach students the skills and knowledge they need to make a more effective assessments that inform decision making throughout their creative journeys. We encourage students to make judgments that are not based purely on personal aesthetic sensibilities but informed by deep critical and contextual knowledge and understanding of sources. Students’ own work is also used as a learning resource, encouraging self-evaluation and enabling the development and modification of work as it progresses.
In studying images and artefacts, students learn about the role of art in society and its capacity to inform us about the lives of individuals and communities from diverse cultures and historical periods. Students will gain understanding of the fact that the results of creativity are not only the product of the individual, but also of their own social context; the individual and society interact in a complex balance in the creative process.
Art and Design education can support and promote several other important aspects of learning. The planning and decision making involved at every stage of the creative process encourages problem solving, sequencing and logical reasoning. The necessity to review and modify work in progress encourages resilience, self-criticism and self-evaluation. Critical debate about a subject with so many personal interpretations can encourage tolerance and understanding of the views of others. Students express individual opinions, justify preferences and engage in informed argument, so developing language and oral debating skills. Collaborative projects foster co-operation with, and sensitivity to, others. One cannot argue strongly enough for a discipline which promotes the innately positive action of artistic creation and the attendant possibility for meaningful self-expression.
Curriculum map for Three-Dimensional Design
Teaching Staff
- Graeme Unwin (Head of 3D Art & Design)
- Aisling Dowd
- Vikki Davis
- Rebecca Fish
- Beth Freeth
- Fiona Johnston (Lead for Art)
- Chris Truman
- Louise Hudson (Primary subject champion)
- Chloe Evans (Primary subject champion)
