Art, Design & Technology, Food, Photography & Textiles

The Faculty of Art & Design seeks to inspire all students to think creatively, to be ambitious with ideas and to celebrate individual success.  Our aim is that students develop their own creativity through engaging with a process of understanding, making, investigation and evaluation.  We actively encourage students to look at the work of others, celebrating other cultures and encouraging diversity.  

The curriculum is designed to enhance and broaden students’ experience of the creative environment.  It is rich in skills and knowledge, it is dynamic and vibrant and accessible to all students.  Across the curriculum we provide learning contexts that promote an understanding of the creative design industries, their role in the economy and how they can lead to exciting career opportunities.

Through the planning and delivery of lessons we aim to:

• Make creativity relevant and stimulating.
• Create intellectual curiosity, interest and enjoyment in each of the subject areas.
• Expose students to key knowledge, skills, principles and vocabulary so they can confidently produce creative outcomes with a reasoned and informed rationale.
• Allow students to experience success and enjoyment in their work and recognise that experimentation and iteration is a key part of the creative process.  
• Instil the routine of iterating, refining and reviewing work so that students naturally challenge themselves, have increasingly higher expectations of what can be achieved and develop confidence in their creative thought process.

We aim for our students to :

• Develop a range of desirable personal qualities such as responsibility, self awareness, growth mindset, respect and resilience.
• Develop valuable transferable skills which can be used across other subjects, outside of lessons and importantly for future career and life.
• Be creative, successful and determined independent learners who understand how to make progress and achieve their full potential.
• Be confident, organised, self-managers and team-workers, who are willing to keep an open mind about new ideas and techniques.
• Responsible citizens who are aware of the role they play in the community and the importance of creativity in contributing to society.

Our shared vision and collaborative teaching will help reinforce and embed the love of creativity within our students.

Beyond the curriculum, the faculty offers a range of enrichment opportunities that allow students to further develop in their known areas of interest, enjoy new creative experiences, provide a stimulus for future classroom-based work and understand the career opportunities available within the subject areas.  

• Students studying GCSE Food Preparation & Nutrition have multiple opportunities to work in a professional kitchen at West Herts College, with sessions led by professional chefs.  
• GCSE Textiles workshops run by a professional fashion designer - manipulating fabric. 
• KS3 Textile printmaking workshop exploring natural and organic techniques.
• Students studying A Level Art & Photography visit galleries, including Tate Modern and other local galleries.
• GCSE Art students start their course with a residential trip to Cornwall, where they visit artists’ studios, workshops and galleries.
• GCSE Graphics students visit the Museum of Brands to explore the history of social, cultural and lifestyle change and how consumer society has evolved since the Victorian era. 
• GCSE Product Design students visit Displayplan, participating in workshops that allow them to understand how designers create prototypes for retail/corporate companies and experience the journey of the creative process from brief to realisation. 
• Year 12 Product Design students visit the Design Museum to learn about contemporary designers, the history of product design.  Students participate in hands-on workshops using smart and sustainable materials.
• A Level Product Design students go to Florence, Italy, to explore architecture and the automotive design industry.
• Year 12 Art & Photography students visit Paris in the summer term to gain inspiration for their personal projects, attend galleries and exhibitions, and create resources for their coursework.

Outside the curriculum, students have the opportunity to attend a range of clubs, such as D&T workshops, jewellery making, textiles, graphics, origami and typography clubs and the Art & Medicine society.  Open Studio/workshop and enrichment sessions in Years 10 & 11 offer students the opportunity to work on their own areas of interest, with support if required, within the creative environment of our Art Studios and D&T rooms.  Year 10 & 11 students can also take the opportunity to be creative with food at our Open Kitchen sessions.  Our A Level Art students participate in life drawing classes, an opportunity more usually aligned with degree and further education study.  We regularly participate in national competitions such as The Innovate competition with V&A Museum, the Royal Academy of Art Young Artists Summer Show and Textiles - the Creative Craft show. 

For details of our curriculum for each subject area within the Art & Design Faculty, please click on the links below.