Art & Design
We aim to help all pupils become confident, independent and successful learners in Art and Design. We provide opportunities for all pupils to develop their own skills and creativity in a range of contexts and materials.
Our curriculum has been organised to cover the four C’s:
Competence
(learning to produce art work pupils are pleased with)
Creativity
(exploring ideas and materials, and learning from mistakes)
Critical understanding
(learning to ‘read’ art, knowing how to evaluate)
Cultural understanding
(understanding the way art exists within societies)
During their four years at Horringer Court Middle School pupils follow a curriculum which introduces them to work from a range of artists and craftspeople from different parts of the world and different times. Pupils use art journals to record their ideas and preparatory work.
Among the artists and designers studied by pupils are William Turner, Antonio Gaudi, Hundertwasser, Paul Klee, Claus Oldenburg, Picasso, the Fauve landscape painters, Giacometti and Andy Warhol. Pupils also investigate the arts and crafts of the Beaker people, the Australian aboriginal artists, and artefacts made by African craftspeople.
Each pupil will have had the opportunity to work in paint, print and clay. As they progress through KS2 and KS3, pupils are expected increasingly to make choices about their work, and to evaluate both their own and other pupils’ work.
The art room is available at lunchtimes for pupils who wish to join art club.
Children are encouraged to value their work, and it is displayed throughout the public areas of the school.
Our curriculum is under constant review. We are currently looking at ways to provide all pupils with the chance to visit an art gallery, and in 2008 Year 7 have visited the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery in London.
