Art & Design

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Member of staff

Mr B. Cave: Curriculum Lead Design Technology
Mrs A. Fairclough: Curriculum Lead Art and Design
Mr G. Knight: Teacher of Art & Design Technology
Ms S. Toon: Teacher of Food Technology
Mrs H. Weldon: Art and Design Technician

GCSE Art & Design

The Art and Design department at South Wigston High School aims to provide a curriculum that allows students to be expressive, whilst developing skills in a wide range of different media. This includes fine art, graphic design and textiles. We encourage pupils to explore visual and tactile outcomes whilst communicating their ideas based around a yearly department theme. We encourage and nurture an interest in the arts.

Students work with traditional techniques and materials as well as with new media. We strive to develop confidence, competence, imagination and creativity. Students learn to appreciate and value images and artefacts across times and cultures, and to understand the contexts in which they were made. We encourage students to research a range of historic and contemporary artists from a variety of fields.

Intent of Curriculum

“The details are not the details. They make the design.”      Charles Eames.

In Design and Technology our aim is to foster for all students a love of good design, be ambitious through exploration, investigation, creativity and innovation, show determination through problem solving and analysis with the intention that students will be inquisitive about the world they interact with. Students will be introduced to the principles of Design and Technology so they gain an understanding of what makes good design, the impact this has on society, the economy, the environment and so they can better appreciate it. We will introduce students to a variety of materials and technologies to develop respect for health and safety requirements, knowledge of how to improve a range of things including, comfort, aesthetics, transport, physical needs, and communication through designing, the manufacturing of prototypes and evaluation of the impact. The curriculum will also develop student’s knowledge of important designers, as well as design movements and their origins from culture to help stimulate their creative thought and challenge their views on design.

Intent - Food

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."      François de la Rochefoucault

Within Food Preparation and Nutrition and Hospitality and Catering our learners will enjoy an ambitious curriculum rich in creativity and experimentation.  We aim to provide students the knowledge and skills to be able to maintain a healthy, well-balanced diet, understanding how food can impact on their health and well-being. Students will be taught a range of practical skills and processes allowing them to be able to prepare, cook and eat safely with variety in their diet. Our intention is to expand the student’s experience of food introducing them to new ingredients and styles of cooking from all over the world, including knowledge of where food comes from and how it is produced. Throughout our curriculum we will open student’s eyes to the food industry and how all the knowledge and skills they are learning translate to this. We will give students the opportunity to discuss the ethics and morals of food production and sale and analyse this impact on the world. Our students will be knowledgeable, enthused, and excited by food.

Our curriculum is underpinned by the school’s core values of Ambition, Determination, and Respect:

Ambition: Learners are encouraged to be creative, developing innovative design ideas and producing recipes using entire homemade products.

Determination: Learners are supported to persevere through practical work, developing their skills in the design workshop and a professional kitchen.

Respect: Learners are taught to be respectful of the surroundings, equipment and each other, especially during practical lessons where health and safety requirements are so important.

The curriculum is designed to build the foundational knowledge and skills required for success in AQA GCSE Design and Technology and Eduqas Hospitality and Catering, with clear progression from KS3 to KS4. It is designed around the requirements of the National Curriculum and the Design and Technology and Hospitality and Catering specifications. It ensures that all learners, regardless of background or ability, can access and succeed.

Implementation of the Curriculum

Design and Technology and Food Preparation are taught through a sequenced and inclusive programme of study that develops pupils’ skills in four key learning foci (LFs):

Design

LF1: Research and generate design ideas
LF2: Develop and communicate ideas
LF3: Make high-quality prototypes
LF4: Evaluation and Improve

Food

LF1: Understanding Nutrition and Food Groups
LF2: Food Preparation and Safety
LF3: Basic Cooking Techniques
LF4: Evaluation and Improvement

At Key Stage 3, learners:

• Learners follow a 10-week rotation system around all the different disciplines that come under the Design and Technology banner throughout the year. The disciplines are: Resistant Materials, Graphics, Textiles and Food.
• Learners will explore materials and their properties.
• Learners will explore different ingredients and their functional characteristics.
• Learners will develop their designing and practical skills via a range of design and making challenges.
• Learners will explore and delve into industry standards around manufacturing.
• Learners will explore and delve into the work

Assessment is based on the KS3 Design and Technology and Food Grade Descriptors, which use a four-tier model, Emerging, Advancing, Deepening, and Mastering, to track progress and provide clear, supportive feedback. Assessment will run throughout each lesson and at key intervals to check progress.

At Key Stage 4, learners will follow either the AQA GCSE Design and Technology course, building on their KS3 foundation, developing skills in designing, making and evaluating based on a design challenge alongside their understanding and knowledge of the design industry. Or they will follow the Eduqas Level1/2 Hospitality and Catering course, building on their KS3 foundation, developing their practical food preparation and cooking skills alongside their knowledge of the hospitality and catering industry.

• Design and Technology is assessed via a controlled assessment and a written exam both worth 50% of the overall GCSE.
• Hospitality and Catering is assessed via a controlled assessed and a written exam. The exam is worth 40% and the controlled assessment is work 60% of the overall grade.

Impact of the Curriculum

By the end of Key Stage 3, learners will be able to:

• analyse a design exploring the good points, the bad points, and the possible improvements.
• understand what a design context and design brief is and can respond to them via the creation of a range of design ideas.
• communicate their ideas through a range of hand drawn and CAD techniques and by 3D modelling.
• identify and explain a range of industry processes and standards.
• identify a range of materials and their source.
• understand the principles of the eatwell guide and how to manage a healthy balanced diet and can demonstrate this through recipe planning, modification and preparation.
• explain how to ensure energy balance.
• identify and explain the food nutrients, what they do for our body and the foods that contain them demonstrated through nutritional analysis of the recipes they create.
• understand the impact of food production on society, the environment and particularly food security.
• understand and know a range of practical cooking skills enabling them to create healthy, safe and enjoyable food.

Our Design and Food curriculum at KS3 ensures learners leaving with life skills preparing students for life outside of education, CORE Powerful knowledge ensuring pupils have a clear understanding of the subject and their core principles ready for GCSE should they choose it. Our curriculum will enthuse and inspire and develop students inquisitive and creative brains.

At Key Stage 4, learners demonstrate increasing independence, creativity, and critical thinking, with some choosing to pursue design and technology or hospitality and catering further in education or as a career. The curriculum not only prepares them for academic success but also equips them with transferable skills for life.

Art KS3 2023/24

Students receive one hour of art each week covering the topics detailed below.

Design Technology Rotation

As part of providing students a rich experience of creative and practical work, the students also have a design lesson once a week. Within this session, the KS3 students rotate every 9 weeks between the following specialisms:

• Graphic Design
• Textiles
• Food and Nutrition
• Print Making

KS4 Art and Design

 GCSE Art and Design is a popular option across our specialisms. We offer:

• GCSE Art and Design: Fine Art
• GCSE Art and Design: Textiles
• GCSE Art and Design: Photography
• GCSE Art and Design: Graphic Communication

GCSE Art is structured into two parts: Portfolio 60% and Externally Set Task 40%. 

OCR Art and Design helps students develop knowledge, skills and understanding to enable them to express their creativity and imagination through responses to visual and written stimuli.

Portfolio: 60%

Coursework consists of two or more projects based on chosen themes.  Students will have the opportunity to experiment with different media, from collage to acrylic, printing to watercolour.  Years 9 and 10 will involve plenty of experimenting and developing skills, whilst Year 11 will focus more on their strongest areas.

Within their portfolio student will need to demonstrate:

• Research skills by gathering images, taking photos, and drawing from observation.
• Analytical skills - students will learn how to analyse artwork to gain a better understanding of art practices to help them develop their own ideas.
• Ability to develop ideas by experimenting with a variety of materials, process and techniques.
• Ability to realise intentions by producing outcomes.  Outcome and work leading to them demonstrate understanding of visual language.

Examination: 40%

In January of Year 11 the examination project will be externally set.  Students have 12 weeks to prepare, resulting in a 10-hour exam spread over 2 days.

GCSE Art and Design: Graphic Communication

In Graphic Communications students will develop skills, knowledge and understanding of a chosen area(s).  These areas include Typography, Communication graphics, Design for print, Advertising, Multimedia, Illustration and Package design.

Students must explore practical and relevant critical and contextual sources such as the work of historical and contemporary graphic designers and the different purposes, intentions and functions of graphic communication as appropriate to their work.

GCSE Art and Design: Textiles

In Textile Design students will develop skills, knowledge and understanding of a chosen area(s). These areas include Constructed textiles, Digital textiles, Dyed fabrics, Printed fabrics, Fashion design and embellished textiles.

Students explore practical and relevant critical and contextual sources such as the work of historical and contemporary graphic designers and the different purposes, intentions and functions of Textile Design as appropriate to their work.

GCSE Art and Design: Fine Art

Learners must demonstrate the ability to work creatively with processes and techniques appropriate to the chosen area(s) of study such as: painting (various media), drawing (various media), printing (e.g. screen printing, etching, aquatint, lithography, block printing), stencils, digital media, mixed-media.