Art and Design
Head of Department
Mrs Gemma Wilson
Qualifications
- BA Hons in Fine Art
- PGCE Secondary Art and Design
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
Pablo Picasso
Pupils joining Pleckgate High School in Year 7 have a variety of art experiences and skills depending on how much art they have studied at Primary school. The Art Department strives to consolidate and develop all ranges of prior learning in line with National Curriculum guidelines.
‘Pupils should be taught to develop their creativity and ideas, and increase proficiency in their execution. They should develop a critical understanding of artists, architects and designers, expressing reasoned judgements that can inform their own work.’ As such we provide a structured developmental 5-year curriculum which will progress knowledge, skills and understanding from Year 7 until Year 11.
Art schemes of work are structured to develop confidence and basic ability sequentially from one-year group to the next. For example, the more traditional aspects of art such as drawing starts with basic shape and line drawing in Year 7, working towards tones and shading in Year 8, through to three-dimensional realism in Year 9 leading to GCSE advanced drawing skills.
We actively encourage creativity and individuality from all pupils to make more personal decisions about the content of their work and to develop not only their ‘skills’, but also their level of personal response to the topics, leading to GCSE level thinking and individuality.
All schemes of work are inclusive of local and international cultural aspects and how art can be used to reflect these aspects. An example is local architecture as a comparison as to how international artists reflect their own environments in art, or how Native American culture uses shapes and symbols in a similar way to that of Islamic art.
Pleckgate pupils work with a broad range of materials including photography, sculpture and computer-based art as well as the more traditional techniques and materials such as drawing and painting. We aim to spark a fire for the arts and liaise closely with local colleges to highlight the opportunities an art-based career could offer pupils.
Please note, every subject exercise book your child has contains a subject ‘Pleckgate Learning Journey’ that outlines the content covered, timelines and assessment points for the current year.
