Art at Tormead
Art GCSE and Lower School Focus
We value creativity and imagination and aim to provide all students with a firm basis of skills in Art and Textiles on which to build projects that foster individuality and confidence. We focus on teaching drawing technique as a ‘backbone’ to provide a platform from which students can move into a working with a wide range of different media and materials. Lessons are underpinned by strong contextual links that focuses on the work of a range of artists as inspiration for the students’ own practice.
A holistic approach enables students to develop skills in art and textiles throughout the curriculum, building skills in mixed media, printmaking, photography, sculpture and fabric manipulation as well as traditional drawing, painting and sewing techniques. All students receive Art and Textiles lessons in Years 7 and 8 and Art becomes optional from Year 9 upwards, allowing students to focus on the subject in more depth.
We offer GCSE and A Level courses in Art & Design (Fine Art and Textiles options) that champion individuality of approach and bring students own interests and ideas to the fore. We also offer a wide range of Art-based, extra-curricular activities and clubs that are available to everyone who wishes to be involved.
- Lower School
Art and Art Textiles lessons provide students with opportunities to explore different media and materials alongside the development of drawing skills, imagination and analysis. Lessons are geared towards working in both two and three dimensions and individual feedback and dialogue with teachers forms the basis for ensuring that each student can flourish. We follow a marking scheme that takes a lead from GCSE and A Level specifications, highlighting assessment areas that make the transition from Lower School to Year 10 smooth for all those who wish to pursue Art or Textiles higher up the school. All our Art projects are designed to help students become confident and independent learners.
- GCSE
We offer GCSE courses in Fine Art and Textile Design. The GCSE course starts with structured projects that aim to provide students with an understanding of how to achieve highly in the main assessment objective areas. They will initially strengthen the key skills that they will be familiar with from their Lower School Art/Textiles lessons. Following this, they move towards projects where they are supported in developing independent and original ideas where their own interests are embraced. The courses are structured in such a way that we are able to cater for a wide range of approaches, allowing students to specialise in their own interests and branch out into areas such as drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography, textiles and use of digital media.
- Enrichment
We offer a range of extra-curricular opportunities for all students in the school that focus on enabling them to be creative and developing their own interests and skills in Art. Throughout the year students are also given opportunities to enter in house and external art competitions. For GCSE and A Level students, we consider the course content as a ‘baseline’ on which the most able students can build, allowing them to enhance, extend and go beyond what is expected of them in their courses. Sixth Form students are also very ‘hands on’ in helping the younger students to develop their projects and ideas, and passing their expertise onto others.
11-16 Years
Our pupils enjoy exceptional educational opportunities within a caring and happy environment.
