Curriculum

1. Home
2. Subjects
3. Art
4. Curriculum

At Nottingham Free School we aim to nurture pupils' creativity and understanding of the art world, pupils are passionate about exploring the work of others to expand their knowledge and understanding of history, cultures and humanity. We nurture courage, determination and resilience so that even pupils who do not go on to become artists still acquire skills that will help them in their future aspirations and in their personal lives. Every skill and technique the pupils learn and use, in their own art, their analysis of artists’ work and of their own is a stepping stone on their journey to success.

Our curriculum aim is to facilitate the building blocks needed in Art from year 7 all the way to year 13. Each year builds on the knowledge from the year prior introducing further skills and knowledge at each stage. The point of an enriching art curriculum is to encourage creative thinking and communication. It should not only prepare pupils who wish to take a specialised art path but also enrich the lives of everyone whatever path they take. Resilience is a key skill that pupils develop within art as well as enhance health and well-being through increasing cultural capital. Each year of learning in art is carefully designed and thought out to ensure pupils get the most from their art education.

KS3 do two schemes of work over the year. In year 7 they look at Identity and Emotion where pupils learn facial proportions and how to apply tone. They also look at a range of different artists in reference to this. Their second project is all about colour theory, where they develop their knowledge of the colour wheel and colour mixing, they also learn how to create perspective with colour. Year 8’s first scheme of work focuses on creative drawing, then a variety of artists and responses. They then look at pattern with a focus on silk painting with the idea that they refine their painting skills and they also experiment with block print as well as learn more about how the design industry works. In the last year of KS3, year 9 pupils do three projects; the first focuses on the proportions of the human form and they learn to draw a human figure accurately including tone and contrast. They then explore artists relating to their work and explore the work of expressive artists such as Frank Auerbach. In their second project they explore the Futurist movement and create a mixed media piece inspired by the futurists. Their final project is a 3D project exploring gargoyles and Gothic architecture as well as the wider face of British sculpture and how it is evolving.

In year 10 pupils have made their GCSE choices, students are free to choose a theme that they feel passionate about and reflects their interests. They are then guided through the project starting with recording the world around them, always connecting their practical work to their chosen focus. The point of the flexibility for pupils is to nurture an independence to prepare them for life at post 16. By year 11 pupils should become more independent in their work, this is done through one to one guidance, verbal feedback and formative assessment.

At KS5 pupils will expand on their skills through workshops at the start of the year, the workshops will be more advanced, looking at the human body, proportions, hands, printing techniques but also working to a larger scale. We also plan to develop pupils’ contextual skills and they will learn how to do more in depth analysis to prepare them for their essay writing further into the course. Once the workshops are completed, pupils create their personal study which will carry them through until Christmas of year 13. The overall view for year 12 is to become more skilled and more independent in their learning to prepare them for University or life after school.