Art & Photography

Art & Photography Curriculum Overview

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Aim

Here at Sandhill View Academy, we aim to securely equip all of our students for life beyond school as successful, confident, responsible and respectful citizens. We believe that education provides the key to social mobility and our curriculum is designed to build strong foundations in the knowledge, understanding and skills which lead to academic and personal success.  We want our students to enjoy the challenges that learning offers.

Our aims are underpinned by a culture of high aspirations. Through developing positive relationships, we work towards every individual having a strong belief in their own abilities so that they work hard, build resilience and achieve their very best.

Intent

The curriculum includes formal teaching through subject areas, assemblies and extracurricular activities. We regularly review content to ensure we continue to meet our curriculum aims. The Art and Design curriculum is planned to enable all students to develop skills in the following areas:

• Technical skills in drawing, painting and making
• The ability to experiment with materials, refine ideas and be confident enough to make mistakes.
• Imagination and creative thinking and making
• Critical analysis of imagery of both contemporary and historical sources

Throughout our programmes of study, every attempt is made to make explicit links to careers and the world of work. In addition to subject specific links, we aim to explicitly reinforce the skills and aptitudes which support employers say are important in the workplace;

• Resilience (Aiming High Staying Positive Learning from Mistakes)
• Collaboration (Teamwork Leadership Communication)
• Creativity (Originality, Problem Solving, Independent Study)

The Art and Design department ensure that students can develop skills that are useful in the world of work including teamwork, communication, creative thinking and problem-solving skills. We have worked closely with outside agencies for a number of years to develop visual literacy and language skills as well as techniques in making artworks. Some examples of this include the ARTiculate project with the Laing Art gallery, The Big Draw annual event across the school, annual attendance at the Creative Careers fayres at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and various workshops and talks working with practising artists. The promotion of the importance of the creative careers and its impact in the local economy is included in lessons and information is displayed throughout the department.

The British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect of those with different faiths and beliefs are taught explicitly and reinforced in the way in which the school operates. Students are taught to maturely debate and discuss contemporary issues. Students are aware of how artists explore identity and are respectful of others’ views. They are considerate when creating artwork, understanding the responsibility they have.

Sequence and structure 

Our curriculum is split in to Key Stage 3 (years 7 and 8) and Key Stage 4 (years 9, 10 and 11).

• Key Stage 3 Curriculum

  Our Key Stage 3 Curriculum includes the following areas of study:

  KS3	Half Term 1	Half Term 2	Half Term 3	Half Term 4	Half Term 5	Half Term 6
  Year 7	Introduction to Art and Design: Explore the importance of creative careers in architecture, craft and design and the importance of the over time. Show off your  drawing skills: observational drawing and painting.	Portraiture: workshops in a variety of materials to explore mark making. Explore a variety of ways to develop creative ideas, recording in sketchbooks.	Portraiture: Who is Paper Monster? How do graffiti artists respond to portraiture and how has this changed over time?. Using a variety of media to create a personal outcome	Childhood project: How does Sarah Graham create work inspired by memory? Students understand the importance of developing work inspired by their own place in society, communicating with family to collect ideas.	Observational drawings, paintings and collages inspired by your childhood! Increase proficiency in execution of using media such as collage, painting and drawing to explore and record ideas.	Personal Response: Combining skills to develop ideas. Students learn how to make indiviual choices to improve their own creative process to express their own ideas and thoughts.
  Year 8	What is Pop Art? Exploring how Pop artists influenced the art world from 1960 to 2019 to develop a critical understanding of their work. Learn about the creative industries in the local area and take part in a Pop Art Activity in a gallery.	Who is Roy Lichtenstein? Technical drawing in the artist’s style. Learn about techniques used in various graphic and pop art movements and how to develop creative and technical skills.	Pop Portraits: using photoshop and grid drawing, create your own Pop Painting expressing reasoned judgments that can inform their own work	What is expressive art? Explore the properties of watercolour paint and how it can tell a story, broadening their critical and technical language.	Who is Loui Jover? Using the influence of shadows and silhouettes, create your own paintings whilst strengthening the  visual the impact of your own and the artists work.	An Injection of colour! Personally respond to artists’ work using collage, photography and colour work. You will make individual choices and gain mastery in painting and creative collage

We know that students who read well achieve well. As such all subject areas are committed to providing regular opportunities to read extensively. We provide regular opportunities for students to read as part of the research process.

• Key Stage 4 Curriculum

  Our Key Stage 4 Curriculum

  At Key Stage 4 students follow the AQA Art and Design and Art and Design (Photography).

  KS4	Half Term 1	Half Term 2	Half Term 3	Half Term 4	Half Term 5	Half Term 6
  Year 9	Street art: Who is Banksy? What contemporary issues inspire him? learn how to create stencils inspired by your photos and his work. Photo: Photo Challenge: How to take a photograph	Street Art: Using Ben Eine’s lettering pieces, create issue-based artwork thinking about the language used to portray a message. Photo: Exploring Typography	My Identity: How can having tattoos change our perceptions? Using the work of Ramon Maiden, explore techniques in pen, paint and photography. Photo: Street Art (see ‘Art Half Term 1’)	My Identity: Using text to encourage debate. How does Barbara Kruger combine text and photography to create thought provoking artwork? Photo: Street Art (see ‘Art Half Term 2’)	My identity: Can you create 3D photo sculptures using thread to create an emotion or hide a personality like Maurizio Anzeri? Photo: Who is KAWS? Take inspiration from cartoons to create a series of responses to his work.	Personal Response: Combine the techniques with taught portrait skills to develop a meaningful artwork inspired by your identity. Photo: Who is KAWS? Personal Response
  Year 10	Art: Who is Shepard Fairey? Use a variety of techniques to explore his art work. Photo: Abstract Portraits: Hands: Who is John Coplans?	Who is Florian Nicolle? Photo: Abstract Portraits: Hands: Who is Tim Booth?	Personal Response: Independently explore the artist’s work to create your own work. Photo: Fantastic and Strange Project (contemporary artists/ photographers study )	Contemporary artist and photo studies: students choose from a range of artists to explore the meaning behind their work and apply it to their own using a framework provided.	Contemporary art studies: Personal Response	Contemporary art studies: Personal Response
  Year 11 art and photography	Mock Exam project: Choose a past GCSE question to create a mini project to encourage independent learning	Mock Exam project: Choose a past GCSE question to create a mini project to encourage independent learning	Externally Set Task is issued (Exam Prep)		10 hours of EST time. Work is assessed and moderated.

How does our Curriculum cater for students with SEND?

Sandhill View is an inclusive academy where every child is valued and respected. We are committed to the inclusion, progress and independence of all our students, including those with SEN. We work to support our students to make progress in their learning, their emotional and social development and their independence. We actively work to support the learning and needs of all members of our community.

A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made that is additional to or different from that made generally for other children or young people of the same age. (CoP 2015, p16)

Teachers are responsible for the progress of ALL students in their class and high-quality teaching is carefully planned; this is the first step in supporting students who may have SEND. All students are challenged to do their very best and all students at the Academy are expected to make at least good progress.

Specific approaches which are used within the curriculum areas include:

• Differentiated and feedback tasks outlined clearly on the board or in teaching resources
• A variety of techniques, processes and materials are taught in art and photography covering forms such as 3D, collage, photo manipulation in physical and digital forms, painting, drawing and sewing
• Group work and discussion tasks to develop confidence in presentation and literacy skills
• Work is always uploaded onto showmyhomework in order for both students and parents to work outside of the lesson
• Art club for all take place at lunch time and intervention takes place after school twice a week for GCSE

How does our curriculum cater for disadvantaged students and those from minority groups?

As a school serving an area with high levels of deprivation, we work tirelessly to raise the attainment for all students and to close any gaps that exist due to social contexts. The deliberate allocation of funding and resources has ensured that attainment gaps are closing in our drive to ensure that all pupils are equally successful when they leave the Academy. More specifically within the teaching of Art and Design, we;

• We aim to provide not only a space to teach technical skills in art, craft and design in order to build a sense of pride, resilience and creativity; but also a space where young people feel safe and comfortable to express how they feel about their society and what is happening in their world, whilst also developing empathy and understanding to others. Our subject encourages students to think creatively and develop transferable skills such as critical thinking, imagination and problem solving to equip them to lead in life beyond the classroom.
• Due to accessing funding for disadvantaged students we ensure all these students are equipped with a GCSE art pack to promote resilience, pride and independence in their work.
• Our GCSE results have shown no gap in attainment for disadvantaged students in comparison to those that are not and students with SEN out perform their targets each year due to the accessible nature of our creative approach to teaching.

How do we make sure that our curriculum is implemented effectively?

The Art and Design curriculum leader is responsible for designing the Art and Design curriculum and monitoring implementation.

The subject leader’s monitoring is validated by senior leaders.

Staff have regular access to professional development/training to ensure that curriculum requirements are met.

Effective assessment informs staff about areas in which interventions are required. These interventions are delivered during curriculum time to enhance pupils’ capacity to access the full curriculum.

Curriculum resources are selected carefully and reviewed regularly.

Assessments are designed thoughtfully to assess student progress and to shape future learning.

Assessments are checked for reliability within the department and across the Trust.

How do we make sure our curriculum is having the desired impact?

• Examination results analysis and evaluation, reported to the senior leaders and the local governing body to ensure challenge
• Termly assessments-analysis and evaluation meetings
• Lesson observations
• Learning walks
• Book scrutiny
• Regular feedback from Teaching Staff during department meetings
• Regular feedback from Middle Leaders during curriculum meetings
• Pupil surveys
• Parental feedback
• External reviews and evaluations