Head Teacher Helen Key
The ‘formal’ curriculum for Art at Chailey School is designed to be engaging and relate closely to the visual world around us. It should prepare all students with creative skills and foster resilience and problem-solving skills to enable their success in the modern world.
Art is taught across a three-year Key Stage 3 and a two-year Key Stage 4.
All students are able to access the resources, learning and outcomes in Art through carefully planned scaffolding of skills and knowledge from Year 7 to Year 11. Projects incorporate a range of structured and differentiated tasks that will help support students of all abilities to engage with Art.
The intent of the curriculum in Art aligns with the overall curriculum intent of Chailey School.
By the end of Key Stage 3, students are expected to know how artists work relates to a theme, start to link artists work to their own work and be able to use a wide range of 2D and 3D media confidently e.g. paint, pastels, clay, paper mache, cardboard.
By the end of Key Stage 4, students who take Art at GCSE level are expected to know how artists work relates to a theme and research their own choice of artists, link artists work clearly to their own and be able to use a wide range of 2D and 3D media confidently and imaginatively e.g. different types of paint, pastels, clay, paper mache, cardboard. To achieve this, the curriculum in Art is planned in coherent sequences of lessons – knowledge, skills and understanding will be built on and applied in a cumulative manner
Assessment, testing of knowledge, skills and understanding, and effective feedback on this in will support this – further details of this can be found in the school’s and Art’s Feedback Policy.
Art contributes much to the school’s ‘informal’ curriculum – the experience and opportunity for students in Art is not just about set of exam results, very important though those may be.
Key opportunities for this in Art are ‘Learning Outside the Classroom’ with projects with multiple outside arts agencies like Same Sky and So Sussex, visiting galleries in KS4, learning and understanding about life and work beyond Chailey by being involved with live arts projects with local artists, and the emphasis laid on taking the broader and enriching opportunities the school offers through the ‘Chailey Award’ and ‘Chailey Diploma’ by taking part in local/ national art and photography competitions and exhibiting art work around the school.
Art also contributes to the development of cultural literacy by including artists of lots of other cultures, LGBT artists as well as inspiration from contemporary art happening now.
All subjects at Chailey School contribute towards building the character and values of its young people
This is achieved through practical learning though doing, taking part in ‘drop-down days’ in in KS3 and 4 and encouraging kindness, team work, creativity, curiosity, support and tolerance of others and diversity, self-confidence and self-respect, resilience, global and environmental awareness, independence and responsibility in work.
Head Teacher Helen Key