Art and Photography

We believe Art and photography is essential to prepare students to participate in tomorrow’s rapidly changing world.

In our curriculum we encourage students to develop their investigating, making and evaluation skills by thinking and intervening creativity. As a department we aim to prepare students for the wider world; organisations today operate in a highly competitive, global environment, making creativity crucial. It is creativity that fuels big ideas, and it is the one thing that cannot be replicated by artificial intelligence. Originality, innovation and creativity are transferable skills that can be used across all subjects and in future careers.

We aim to create independent, confident Artists and Photographers. We challenge students to think, act and speak like practitioners, we do this by teaching students to become visually literate so that they are able to read, interpret and find the meaning in paintings, photographs, sculptures and instillations, exploring and re-shaping them in their own work. We do this by giving students fist hand experiences of both areas: Fine Art and Photography. Students are given the opportunity to engage with contemporary and historical practitioners from a range of cultural contexts. Purposeful exploration, making and completing of art work cultivates artistic awareness, understanding and skills. We are building a cultural capital for our students by providing students with a means to engage with and understand the world around them and their relationship with it.

We aim to provide enjoyment, support and encourage creativity, imagination and experimentation; to explore a variety of media and resources to inspire and challenge students. We pride ourselves on our ability to provide an environment in which students are happy to take risks, ask themselves questions about their creative journey and respond positively to both staff and peers.

As a department we define the powerful knowledge our students need and help them recall it by scaffolding our curriculum in such a way that students continually revisit skills and build upon them each year, tackling increasingly challenging concepts. As each step in a learning journey develops, it incorporates a deeper understanding of prior learning. This journey gives our students a voice with which to express their thoughts, feelings and responses to the world around them.