Art & Design
Welcome to Art at Canon Lee
This school has some great young artists. We base all our work on a simple idea, that ‘Art is about the individual'.
From the minute students enter the school in Year 7 they are encouraged to work independently on personal projects and themes. ‘High Art' images such as Picasso, Matisse and Renoir are integrated into personal projects as much as possible.
Set topics and technical workshops are offered alongside the ‘free choice' option. Our baseline activity takes place in sketchbooks, which become sketchbook/scrapbooks. Homework is seen as an extension of work produced in class, where students regularly continue sketchbook and additional support activities.
Art activities carried out in both Key Stage 3 and 4 are aimed towards examination criteria and many Art students in Year 9 in particular begin GCSE Art early. There is roughly a 50/50 balance between both 2D and 3D work carried out by students. Students experience a ‘Fine Art' diet in the department and both main teachers have a Fine Art background; one a painter, one a sculptor; ideally situated for a general Art and design curriculum in our school.
Flexibility is the key to our success at examination level. It is our belief that Art in a secondary school is not simply ‘about drawing' and that young people have alternative creative skills that need encouraging and developing; everyone is good at something, it is a teachers job to find it.
The department has had remarkable success at GCSE level. In June 2008, 67 students completed the course, 60% of whom achieved an ‘A*- A grade', with 84% achieving an ‘A*- C grade'. We have been at and above these levels for several years. The hallmark of the department is the pursuit of excellence.