Art & Design (including Photography)
The Art and Design Department is an experienced team of specialist teachers, who come from a broad range of Art backgrounds. The Beaumont Art team is supportive and encouraging, helping students to express their ideas, be imaginative, experiment and build up core Art skills.
Key Stage 3
During Key Stage 3 Art, students explore different media including: drawing, painting, print-making, mixed media and 3D work. Students learn to reflect critically on their own and other people’s work, judging quality, value and meaning. They will think and act as artists and designers, working creatively and intelligently and build up confidence in a broad range of skills in a variety of Art disciplines. Some of the projects studied at Key Stage Three are: Key Skills, Flora and Fauna, Pop Art, Portraiture, Urban Art and Typography.
Assessment
Students will be given a working Art level termly as well as receiving frequent Effort Marks for their artwork. Teachers will regularly give ‘success’ and ‘target’ feedback to students to support their development and progression. Self-evaluating of work is also completed regularly as well as peer assessment to show that students understand how they can develop.
Home Learning
Tasks will be set every two to three weeks. They will be a research or completion task and will link to the current projects being taught. Home learning should take students about 30 minutes to complete.
Key Stage 4
GCSE Art, Craft and Design
Examination Board: Edexcel
Coursework – 2 units – 60% of final mark
Exam – 40% of final mark
The GCSE Art, Craft and Design course enables students to work in a range of disciplines including drawing, painting, photography, Photoshop, mixed media, printmaking and contextual studies. This is a broad Art course that is structured by the department to support and encourage the students. Throughout Years 10 and 11, two units of coursework are introduced:
Unit 1: ‘Natural Forms’
Unit 2: ‘Collections’
From February to May in Year 11 students will prepare for their end of year externally set Art exam. This is worth 40% of the final grade (30% is preparation and 10% is the final exam).
The course is structured to cover the four Assessment Objectives listed below for both the coursework and exam units:
- Contextual Research
- Experimentation
- Observational
- Personal Responses
Assessment
Students will be given a termly Art working grade. Teachers will regularly give ‘success’ and ‘target’ feedback to students to support their development and progression. Self-evaluation of work is also completed regularly, as well as peer assessment to show students understand how they can develop.
Home Learning
Home Learning will be based on the student’s current projects and will build on the lesson work they have been producing. Home learning examples may include drawing, research, planning, analysis and evaluation tasks. These tasks contribute to their final grade and should be completed to the best of the student’s ability. As a guide, students are expected to complete 1½ hours of home learning per week.
GCSE Art and Design: Graphics
Examination Board: AQA
Coursework: 2 units 60% of final mark
Exam: 40% of final mark
The GCSE Art and Design: Graphics course enables students to work in a range of disciplines including: advertising, illustration, typography, and packaging. This will give students the opportunity to develop skills and techniques that would be used in the design industry. The critical element for Graphic Design is the successful communication of a message through the organisation of images and words. Throughout Years 10 and 11 two units of coursework are introduced that include a number of project briefs:
Unit 1: ‘Text and Image’
Unit 2: ‘Working to a brief’
From February to May in Year 11 students will be preparing for their end of year externally set Art exam. This is worth 40% of the final grade (30% is preparation and 10% is the final exam).
The course is structured to cover the four Assessment Objectives listed below for both the coursework and exam units:
- Contextual Research
- Experimentation
- Observational
- Personal Responses
Assessment
Students will be given a termly Graphics working grade. Teachers will regularly give ‘success’ and ‘target’ feedback to students to support their development and progression. Self-evaluation of work is also completed regularly as well as peer assessment to show that students understand how they can develop.
Home Learning
Home learning will be based on the student’s current projects and will build on the lesson work they have been producing. Home learning examples may include drawing, research, planning, analysis and evaluation tasks. These tasks contribute to their final coursework grade and should be completed to the best of the student’s ability. As a guide, students are expected to complete 1½ hours of home learning per week.
Key Stage 5
‘A’ level Art, Craft and Design
Examination Board: Edexcel
Coursework – 2 units – 60% of final mark
Exam – 40% of final mark
The ‘A’ level Art, Craft and Design course enables students to work in a diverse range of techniques and processes as well as studying a variety of Artists. Disciplines used include drawing, painting, photography, experimental darkroom work, Photoshop, mixed media, and print-making. This broad course is structured by the department to support and guide students. In Year 12, students will work through a series of workshops to build up key skills while producing personal and refined outcomes. Students will also undertake a mock exam unit in Year 12. All work created in Year 12 will goes towards the final coursework mark. In Year 13 students create their own personal project and choose which media, themes and disciplines they want to focus upon.
Year 12: ‘Environments’ and ‘Mock Exam’
Year 13: ‘Personal Project’ and ‘Externally Set Assignment’
From February to May in Year 13, students will be preparing for their end of year externally set Art exam. This is worth 40% of the final grade (30% is preparation and 10% is the final exam).
The course is structured to cover the four Assessment Objectives listed below for both the coursework and exam units:
- Contextual Research
- Experimentation
- Observational
- Personal Responses
Assessment
Students will be given a termly Art working grade. Teachers will regularly give ‘success’ and ‘target’ feedback to students to support their development and progression. Self-evaluation of work is also completed regularly as well as peer assessment to show that students understand how they can develop.
Home Learning
Home Learning will be based on a student’s current projects and will be set weekly. Students must be self-motivated and disciplined with work set as it will impact upon their progression and ultimately their final grade. As a guide, students are expected to complete 2-3 hours of home learning per week.
‘A’ level Art and Design: Photography
Examination Board: AQA
Coursework: 2 units 60% of final mark
Exam: 40% of final mark
The ‘A’ level Art and Design: Photography course enables students to work in a diverse range of techniques and processes including how to use a camera on manual setting, digital photography editing, processing films and traditional darkroom photography, as well as experimental, camera-less photography techniques.
Students will also study a variety of photographers and artists and have the opportunity to create their own personal projects. In Year 12, students will work through a series of workshops to build up key skills, whilst producing personal and refined outcomes. Students will also undertake a mock exam unit in Year 12. All work created in year 12 will go towards the final coursework mark. In Year 13 students create their own personal project and choose which media, themes and disciplines they want to focus upon.
Year 12: ‘The City’ and ‘Mock Exam’
Year 13: ‘Personal Project’ and ‘Externally Set Assignment’
From February to May in Year 13, students will be preparing for their end of year, externally set Art: Photography exam. This is worth 40% of the final grade (30% is preparation and 10% is the final exam).
The course is structured to cover the four Assessment Objectives listed below for both the coursework and exam units:
- Contextual Research
- Experimentation
- Observational
- Personal Responses
Assessment
Students will be given a termly Photography working grade. Teachers will regularly give ‘success’ and ‘target’ feedback to students to support their development and progression. Self-evaluating of work is also completed regularly as well as peer assessment to show that students understand how they can develop.
Home Learning
Home Learning will be based on a student’s current projects and will be set weekly. Students must be self-motivated and disciplined with work set as it will impact upon their progression and ultimately their final grade. As a guide, students are expected to complete 2-3 hours of home learning per week.
Extra-curricular enrichment
- Key Stage 3 Lunch Art Club: every week
- Key Stage 4 Art Club: twice a week
- GCSE Trip: Tate Modern Trip
- ‘A’ level Art Trip: Curwen Printmaking Trip
- ‘A’ level Art: Royal Academy Life Drawing Day
- ‘A’ level Photography Trip: Photographer Gallery workshop and London Art Fair
- ‘A’ level Trip: Frieze Fair London
Stretch & Challenge
- Whole School Read KS3 Art Competition
- ‘A’ level Royal Academy of Arts Competition
- ‘A’ level Saatchi Competition
- The Art Department Blog promotes current Art Exhibitions to visit
Where can Art take you?
There are so many careers paths you can take in Art. A few are… Fine Artist, Graphic Designer, Photographer, Animator, Art Therapist, Interior Designer, Architect, Set Designer, Make-up Artist, Web Designer, Curator, Film Maker, Illustrator…
Here are some of the courses that our students have gone on to do in the last few years:
- Illustration at Norwich
- Architecture at Westminster
- Fine Art at Leeds
- Film and Moving Image Production at Norwich
- Moving Image at Brighton
- Art Foundation at the Royal Drawing School
How parents can support their child’s learning
Help your child become organised with basic Art equipment: pens, pencils, coloured pencils, etc.
Encourage students to be involved in artist research by gathering information from the internet and libraries
Encouraging drawing tasks and image research.
Useful links
Beaumont Art Blog: Artatbeaumontschool.blogspot.co.uk
(Home learning for KS4 + KS5, Current Exhibitions, Useful Art Links are all written on the Blog)
Beaumont Art Pinterest: Pinterest.com/beaumontart
(Albums of Themes, Artists, Techniques that link to Beaumont students’ Art projects)
To see the frequently asked questions, please click here
