Art

The Art Department consists of three members of staff: Mr Saunders, Head of Art, appointed in 2003, Ms Booth, a London based artist teaching in her own studio here at St Mary's, and Ms Lee, the art technician providing professional support and continuity across the Department. We aim to encourage and inspire the girls by fostering a busy innovative studio based environment where they can work alongside each other and the teachers to create tehir own art in an intelligent and considerate way.

Art is taught to Years 7,8 and 9 for one hour a week and students have access to the studio most lunch times. We cover a foundation course over these first three years, including working with formal elements such as colour, tone, composition, design, proportion, perspective, form and media. An historical and contextual element is also introduced to the course through the work of different genres in Art. We look  at how different artists have worked in a whole variety of media.

The girls are asssesed by the national levels and standards giving them an understanding of where they are are, setting targets to achieve the next level. Homework is only set as a necessity where this research or resource will feed in and grealy improve the standards of their studio practice.  Each term-based project produces a practical outcome in either 2d or 3d work. The girls produce a very high standard of practical artwork which is often displayed around the school.

In Year 10 students have an option to study Art at GCSE  where they spend two and a half hours in the studio each week. They currently cover the OCR board by completing two set projects internally, then sit a ten hour controlled test set by the board. The standard of this work is excellent and is often recognised by the examiners as being 'outstanding and exceptional' and 'some of the best work in the country'. This work is displayed in the school gallery, where we hold an opening night for the new exhibitions. We have, and do aim, to display the work outside of the school in local galleries.

The Department is always forward looking by booking trips to the most influential exhibitions, leading trips to London and Prague. Students also get opportunities to visit galleries on international trips with other staff and departments. We have visiting artists who lead workshops such as Kendra Haste teaching sculpture and Owen Lennox teaching portraiture.

We continually update and improve our resources to help the girls relate to the modern world and to appreciate and develop an understanding of other cultures.