Art

What we do at Breckenbrough

Our approach to Art encourages students to develop their own style and creativity with the various media provided. This allows them to develop necessary techniques to help tackle the GCSE or ASDAN course in Years 10 and 11. A calm, supportive environment supports the full range of student need. Students work is displayed around the school in which they take great pride and see this as something to which they can aspire.

The Curriculum we offer

We offer a wide range of different disciplines for all our students to help them explore and experiment, this works alongside our bespoke assessment framework which runs alongside the GCSE assessment. Each Key Stage two and three group cover at least three of our disciplined areas. Throughout Year 7 – 8 we explore Fine Art, Ceramics, Textiles, Graphics, Photography and 3D Design craft. Throughout each of these projects, students are encouraged to reflect upon their work through self-reflection and peer assessments. Formative and Summative assessments are encourage through multiple choice questions, evaluations and the overall final piece. Literacy is encouraged at different stages of the projects through discussing positives aspects of the work and examines areas for improvement. These are all necessary skills which students are required to have when they move onto Key Stage 4.

In Years 10 and 11, we offer the GCSE course or an ASDAN course. At GCSE, we offer the unendorsed paper which focuses on the different areas that were explored in Key Stage 3. We also offer the separate endorsed papers for Photography and Graphic Communication, if students wanted to focus in a specific area. The ASDAN course contains different projects for the students to explore. The students experiment in the specialised areas of art to complete a series skill sheets. This course offers the students additional UCAS points for College.

If students feel that they wish to pursue Art further after completing GCSE, we can offer an A-level specification looking at producing work through recording and in depth investigations following a similar layout to the GCSE course.

Resources

The art room is situated at the south side of the school, which showcases some of the original features of the older part of the building. In 2018, the art room was refurbished to accommodate the continuing changes within the department, while also creating an imaginative and inspiring environment to work in. As a department, we are lucky to have the opportunity to have the equipment and skills to offer all students. We have a good range of equipment such as sewing machines, computers, a kiln, two electric potter wheels and we pride ourselves in encouraging creativity and new skills to anyone that steps foot into the room.

Extra-Curricular

On a Wednesday afternoon during Enrichment and on a Thursday evening, we offer various activities depending on the time of year. These include needle and wet felting, ceramics, photography trips to name a few, and we are always open to new ideas from the boys to fit in with their interests. We also try to extend and enhance the boys’ experience of Art with visits to various galleries, museums and exhibitions.

As a Quaker School, we also have a great relationship with the Thirsk Quaker meeting house, which has given us brilliant opportunities to exhibit some of the amazing work produce by our students. In the past, we have also been on trips to visit the ‘Clothes Show Live’ event in Birmingham, the Tate Modern in London, The Barbara Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park along with many other local areas.

Art is a popular subject with the Breckenbrough students, who all are encouraged to achieve the best results that their different abilities allow, whether that is in lower school, at GCSE or A-Level.