At The King's School, we believe that creativity is a Godly characteristic.  God created the world around us in all its beauty and variety.  The nature of the world around us demonstrates God's character in that he has created a diverse world for us to enjoy, full of beauty, from the microscopic details to the nebulas and galaxies millions of miles away.  Looking at God's creation - a beautiful sunset, mountains and oceans, plant-life and even the way that he puts the human form together in all its intricacies - leads us to wonder and worship.  It is our aim to bring the pupils to this place of awe and see God as the amazing artist that he is. Each of us is created in God's image meaning we are all made with the potential to be creative.  It is our aim to help the pupils to use and develop their creative ability and achieve their full potential in this area.

Art is also a useful tool in communicating ideas and meanings. Throughout Art history we can see paintings depicting Bible stories and attempting to portray aspects of Almighty God.  This is far less the case in recent years with contemporary artists choosing to look at a more new age take on spirituality and in many cases depicting the darker sides of the world we live in.  This shouldn't have to be the case.  Art should be used to create something beautiful and that brings glory to God, which is what our pupils are encouraged to do.  Christian artists should be the best around because God, the ultimate artist, inspires us and that is exactly what we want for our pupils.

In Art we aim to:

• Research and develop ideas in creative visual ways
• Look at the work of other artists to learn how to portray ideas and meanings
• Create artworks using a range of different media and techniques

Lessons are taught using teacher demonstrations, discussions about their own and other artists work but mostly lessons are very practical and hands on and pupils learn by trying things out for themselves with plenty of teacher input.  Work is project based and a theme will be used as a basis for developing ideas and producing work.

Some of the themes covered are:

• Self
• Microscopic and telescopic imagery
• Landscape
• Still life
• The human figure
• Plants
• Planet Earth
• Bible stories

Some of the techniques covered are:

• Painting
• Drawing
• Collage
• Mixed media
• Clay
• Wire sculpture
• Computer aided design
• Textiles
• Print-making

In Key Stage 4 pupils produce 2 units of coursework, constituting 60% of their GCSE grade.  They are encouraged to use a range of techniques.  Apart from two set projects pupils are given the freedom to choose their own themes and materials.