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Art at Jesmond Park Academy

Art

Our curriculum is designed to empower our students to be creative, innovative and adaptive thinkers through the development of a secure and detailed knowledge of the formal element, the principles of design, and an understanding of aesthetics and communication through visual language.

Art curriculum philosophy and intent statement

They will exercise the skills necessary to articulate ideas verbally and in a variety of formal written styles. Students will learn a broad range of technical skills and develop an ability to express themselves through a diverse range of materials and techniques. Through the study of art history and art philosophy students progress to develop a personal and meaningful artistic identity of their own.

The depth and range of knowledge will allow students to develop the ability to observe, record and evaluate their perceptions of their environment and experiences. It will support their understanding of universal structures and principles and provide strategies and ideas vital to enable them to compose concrete and abstract concepts.

This learning process will prepare the students to participate in decision making, be independent and resourceful, improve their social and team skills. Art complements and augments all forms of intellectual activity and supports effective thinking across other disciples.

We view the teacher as the technical expert who will facilitate the explorations and experiments to enable and guide students’ imagination and develop their intuition, problem solving and critical analysis.  The teachers aim to nurture the students’ latent potential by working with the students collaboratively. Teachers invest in developing the self-esteem and well-being of every child, by always demonstrating a positive regard for the value of each student’s’ contribution.

At the core, students develop an understanding and appreciation of art and how it reflects and shapes society and cultural values. Art is important in society for innumerable reasons. It communicates when words alone cannot. Art instruction helps with the development of motor skills, language skills, social skills, decision-making, risk-taking, and inventiveness. Art has the potential to help improve a student’s memory and concentration skills, develop decision-making and critical thinking skills, enhance communication and listening skills, but also encourage focus and discipline. It supports and enables a rich and profound perception of the world and it creates versatile and adaptive thinking. Art is a powerful tool, which encourages novelty and develops nonlinear thinking skills that can be used not only in academic settings but in the professional world as well.

 


 

These key themes are extended and refined every year as part of our spiral curriculum. (Content Statement)

It is important that students see how key knowledge is fundamental to a wide range of Art and design areas including, fine art, sculpture, product design, textiles, architecture, photography, film, theatre design and Graphics. Students will see where Art shares areas of understanding with other areas subjects such as Maths, English, Psychology, Design Technology and History.

We will regularly revisit and revise the knowledge through low stakes testing and practising of the key vocabulary in every topic and in every lesson. We aim to ensure that the subject knowledge of Art staff is as up to date as possible through regular cross discipline collaboration and external opportunities. Our teachers have an inherent desire to develop their expertise as a matter of course.

There are many core skills which we will regularly revisit through each key stage building confidence and expertise in the students. They must understand how to apply practical skills effectively in a wide range of materials. Literacy shall be regularly reinforced through encouraging students to write extended responses and ensuring key vocabulary is accurately spelled and used in written work.

In addition to this, it is important that we encourage students to demonstrate a creativity approach and problem solving skills. We aim to develop the character required to be resilient in their approach to grasping the challenging content that we will demand from our students.

Art at Jesmond Park Academy

Art curriculum offer

KS3 - Students will study 3 topics per term in year 7, 8, 9. In year 7 students learn about the basic formal elements of Art and basic material use. Students build on this further in year 8 when they more widely explore materials and look into the principles of design. In Year 9 the students explore composition and Art movements, whilst further refining the skills they learnt in years 7 and 8.

There will be 2 assessment projects per year for each year group which is based on the process used when covering GCSE projects. This will encourage independent working, develop time management skills and improve presentation skills. 

Students can study the following courses at KS4 and 5:

KS4 

  • AQA GCSE Fine Art
  • AQA GCSE 3D Art

KS5 

  •   AQA GCE Fine Art