We aim for our students:
The creative industry in the UK is one of the fastest growing industries; it is driving economic growth across the UK and is on track to create one million new creative industries jobs by 2030. Visual Arts, Craft, Design and Photography are extremely important subjects and play a key role within our curriculum at King James. The Art department is a very successful department and we offer a good selection of courses that allow students to develop skills in a wide variety of disciplines. Students develop a range of skills within the creative subjects we offer; we teach students the skills and techniques they need to express their creativity, develop themselves as critical thinkers, explore and express their own ideas as well as the ability to work well independently and collaboratively. We believe learning outside of the classroom is crucial and strongly value the experiences students gain when on visits to galleries, exhibitions and different cultural venues. We offer a range of visits each year with some being more to more local venues in KS3 as well as an annual international visit for KS4 and KS5.
This Art Department follows the AQA Art and Design specification offering Fine Art, Photography and Art/Craft/Design GCSE courses. The course is made up of 60% coursework where students work on a theme based project and produce a final exhibition. The exam is 40% and is also theme based. Students are given six to ten weeks to prepare studies and a final design plan. They then have ten hours working time to produce the final piece. This is the process for the exam where students have 10 weeks preparation followed by a 10 hour exam. The aim of the course is for students to create a unique, lively and individual approach to work and to meet the full range of assessment objectives through experience in a range of processes, media, materials and techniques which are appropriate to their aptitudes, interests and abilities. We take our students on gallery visits to complement their studies and inspire their work further.
Unit 1: Coursework 60% of final grade
Unit 2: Exam 40% of final grade
Students will complete workshop based lessons within Y10 where they will build up a range of different skills. They will experiment with different techniques and processes as well as how to research and analyse the work of other artists, photographers and practitioners. Students will learn to be critical and develop their own thoughts and ideas about their own intentions and outcomes.
During Y11 students will continue to develop a range of skills but will start to develop as more independent learners as they complete their Mock or identity project. They will have more freedom to decide on the direction their own journey will go. They will use the skills they have learnt in Y10 and build on them as they produce their own responses to their starting points. During the exam students will be working to strict timescales and time management will be key and form part of their planning. Students will go on to plan their exhibition and select the most successful work to showcase.
Year 10 |
Year 11 |
Culture research, experimentation and sampling |
Identity research, experimentation and sampling |
Culture Outcome |
Identity Outcome |
Natural Forms Research, experimentation and sampling |
Exam Preparation |
Natural Forms Outcome |
Exam Outcome |
Year 10 |
Year 11 |
Natural Forms introduction (series of workshop lessons) |
Evolution research, experimentation and sampling |
Natural Forms Research, experimentation and sampling |
Evolution Outcome |
Natural Forms Outcome |
Exam Preparation |
Discovery / Evolution |
Exam Outcome |
Year 10 |
Year 11 |
Introduction to the course, learning the basics |
Genres project |
Themes project |
Mock exam project |
Identity Project |
Exam Preparation |
Genres Project |
Exam Outcome |
Art
Year 10 | Year 10 Learning Journey ART.pdf |
Year 11 | Learning Journey - Photography - Year 11.pdf |
Photography
Year 10 | Learning Journey - Photography - Year 10.pdf |
Year 11 | Learning Journey - Photography - Year 11.pdf |
Art and Photography
Art and Photography | Art - Art and Photography - Learning Journey.pdf |