Courses
We offer a broad and balanced curriculum, for key stage 3 (Years 7-9), key stage 4 (Years 10 and 11) and key stage 5 (Years 12 and 13 - Sixth Form). Click the appropriate button below to find the details for each subject offered in each key stage.
Further details of our curriculum are available on the curriculum page.
Overview
Art & Design
Introduction
The Art Department strives to ensure each student gains a foundation knowledge of art that is mapped using assessment objectives with creativity, diversity, and independence threaded through at every point. These core values support our students to confidently navigate the curriculum. We aspire to shape students that can work independently and that have the confidence to self-direct their own learning through the power of coaching, guidance, and mentoring. These fundamental aspects of our curriculum endeavour to build creative resilience and encourage passion and enthusiasm for the subject. Woven through the course is a constant appreciation for art and its impact within a rich and diverse school curriculum and its place in a wider world context.
Course leader
Mrs K McCabe
Curriculum
Course content
Our department offers an exciting, broad, and diverse art experience to all our key stage 3 students. They explore stimulating projects through the mediums of paint, mixed media, printing techniques, ink, clay, and collage. Schemes of learning have been developed with cultural capital in mind to enable our students to work with, question and challenge artwork beyond the classroom.
Making links to relevant concepts and global issues supports students with understanding the context of their own learning. Through all this our students learn to have ideas and ambition, to take creative risks and explore and embed a wide range of materials and processes, developing the understanding that art is created in many ways and can be individual and unique. Our students rise to the challenge and, as a result, we have an exciting range of independently creative and diverse responses to projects starting in key stage 3 and developing in depth through GCSE and A-level.
Topics
All students engage in three large projects over the course of each year. At the start of every year, students learn about then embed their understanding of the 'formal elements of art', which is done through the themes of animals, architecture and portraiture. They will all also take part in a clay project in the year, where they develop key making, building and creating skills through themes including robots, architecture and Tim Burton. The final project will include drawing, painting and printing skills and explores themes like decay, landscapes and graffiti.
Skills and requirements
Skills developed
Our multi-skilled team have expertise and industry experience in fine art, ceramics, sculpture, installation art, jewellery design and metal work. This means our art staff work together to make sure a wide variety of skills are explored and honoured. The art experience at Silverdale provides students with the skills to take risks, ask questions and have independence over the work they create. In a practical sense students learn how to draw for different purposes using pens, pencils, paints, chalks and pastels, observe and work in a three-dimensional way through clay and explore mixed media to combine skills and develop confidence.
