TGGS Public Art Project

We have in recent years built excellent links with arts organisations in the local area and developed a school public art project. Our curriculum is enriched by these connections and our environment is enhanced by public art on site and in the local area.

All of year 7 and year 8 participated in projects that fed into the Longbridge Light Festivals of 2014 and 2016 .

In 2015/6 we coordinated a public art project alongside several community organisations. Students in year 8 and year 10 worked to design and make a mural artwork for the long concrete wall adjacent to Longbridge train station. This was supported by Longbridge Public Arts Project (LPAP), and our students had the opportunity to work with artists Cathy Wade and Dan Newso.

Year 9 students worked with artists Juneau Projects to produce artwork involving laser cut jewellery and augmented reality technology, which culminated in their participation in the 2016 Longbridge Light Festival.

In 2017/18 our Year 7 cohort worked with artist and engineer Sophie Huckfield as part of the Craft Council’s ‘Make Your Future’ project and developed hexagon tiles for a wall installation in school.

In 2018/19 we will be working alongside Bournville College and a Longbridge community group on a collaborative community art project.

To keep up to date with these exciting projects as they develop, and to see what else we get up to in the art department, you can follow us on twitter: @TGGSart.

Art & Design 

Art & Design education provides and inspires personal expression, personal understanding, creative and practical responses, promotes imaginative risk taking to provide solutions to our material, emotional, social and virtual worlds. Art & Design at Turves Green Girls’ School is a valued subject.  It engages, inspires and challenges our learners, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to participate in, experiment with, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design.

Art & Design at KS3

All pupils study Art and Design at KS3.  We believe that our curriculum offers variety, breadth and challenge and is fully compliant with the expectations of the national Curriculum.  At KS3 we learn through practical projects themed to explore the world of Art, Craft & Design within a wide variety of different contexts and genres. Each project is designed to develop both skills and knowledge with a focus on:


  • Generating ideas: skills of designing and developing ideas - Pupils learn to research, observe, imagine, explore, experiment, select, organise, plan, design, problem-solve, think and act creatively.
  • Making: skills of making Art, Craft & Design - pupils learn to control, explore & use qualities of materials, media, techniques and processes, think and act creatively.
  • Evaluating: skills of judgement and evaluation - Pupils learn to understand, interpret, analyse, explain, make connections, respond, make meaning, allowing them to go onto strengthen the visual impact of their work.
  • Knowledge: knowledge of art processes and context - Pupils learn about medium and media, meaning, purpose, art, artists, periods, genres, styles, movements, craft, design, architecture.

Year 7 

Year 7 Art begins in transition week with a trip to the New Art Gallery Walsall to explore the question 'What is Art?'. Pupils think about how to learn like an artist and how to use a sketchbook, and develop their skills with drawing, painting, mixed-media and ceramics. Year 7 topics include Faces, Imaginary Animals and Construction.

Year 8

In Year 8, pupils continue developing their skills with a range of processes and techniques including ceramics, painting, felt making and design for print. Year 8s have the opportunity to visit The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford to research and develop ideas for their ‘Another Culture’ ceramics project. Other topics include Lettering, Protest & Guerrilla Art and A Close Up View.
Term
Yr7
Yr8
Autumn
​What is Art?  Faces
​Another Culture
Spring
​Construction
​Lettering, Protest & Guerrilla Art 
Summer
​Imaginary Animal
​Close-up View

Art & Design at KS4

At KS4 we offer three courses through the exam board OCR; GCSE Fine Art, GCSE Applied Art, and where appropriate, Entry Level Art & Design in order to enable as many pupils as possible to have access.

Both GCSE courses are comprised of 60% controlled assessment in which the theme or project brief is set by the department, and 40% set task (exam project) with a wide choice of briefs set by the exam board.

Learning for both the controlled assessment and the set task is designed to meet the four assessment objectives:
AO1 - Develop: Developing a range of ideas from a given starting point that show understanding of your source material and that are informed by the work of artists & designers. 
AO2 - Experiment: Refining your ideas by exploring and making appropriate and thoughtful choices from a range of media, techniques and processes. 
AO3 - Record: Recording observations and insights relevant to your intentions, for example by, drawing, taking photographs, making notes. 
AO4 - Present: Presenting personal, informed and meaningful work that shows critical and analytical understanding. Realising your intentions (in a final piece).

The Entry Level Certificate (ELC) follows a similar course and assessment structure, making it very easy for students to study alongside each other, and also for decisions to be made quite late into the course about whether an individual is more suited to the ELC or to GCSE. 
 
GCSE Fine Art 
 
All students begin their studies with projects aimed at introducing GCSE working practices, learning about assessment objectives and developing confidence and independence with a range of media and processes. These may include: Natural Forms, Structures, and Human. In year 11, pupils work towards their mock exam, and from January commence work on their Set Task Project, culminating in a 10 hour examination in April. 
 
GCSE Applied Art 
 
Although the structure of the course is very similar and the assessment objectives are identical, Applied Art allows for a much more vocational approach to the subject. Rather than exploring open ended themes, students respond to client led project briefs. These have included designing and producing ceramic items for the Botanical Gardens gift shop, designing and printing wallpaper for a Shoe Boutique, and designing promotional items for museums such as banners, posters and murals.  For Applied Art, the Set Task (examination) will also be in the form of a project brief. ​
​2-Year KS4
Term
Yr10
Yr11
Autumn
​Natural Forms
​Mock Exam, Gallery visit, Portfolio consolidation
Spring
​Natural Forms, Human. Gallery visit
​Exam
Summer
​Human, Mock Exam
3-Year KS4
Term
Yr9
Yr10
Yr11
Autumn
​Foundation skills
​Human, Gallery visit
​Mock Exam, Portfolio consolidation
Spring
Foundation skills, Self Image / Identity
​Human 
Exam
Summer
​Self-Image  / Identity
​Mock Exam, Gallery visit
Please see the images below for more examples of student work. This gallery will be updated regularly.