Welcome to the Art & Design Department

In the words of Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519):

Departmental Staff:
Mr John Mc Laughlin (Head of Department)
Mr Charles Fitzsimons

Art & Design facilities:
Students enjoy excellent facilities having 2 modern general purpose art rooms with a pottery and kiln room located in one of the classrooms and 4 computers with art software packages located in each room with printing & scanning equipment. In addition there is a large foyer area for display of ongoing student artwork at all levels.

General information about the Art & Design Department:
Art & Design is part of “The Arts” within the revised curriculum in St Patrick’s Grammar School. This subject is offered to all students from Yr8 – 14 with many students opting at the end of Key Stage 3 to study at GCSE level leading on to AS/A2 level. As a Department we are very proud of our student achievements both academically and in competitions. Art & Design is a very successful and popular subject in St Patrick’s with a consistently high pass rate in public examinations each year.

Key Stage 3 Art & Design curriculum:
Within the revised curriculum St Patrick’s students in Years 8 - 10 are encouraged to be active and independent learners where they think inventively and creatively and at the same time acquire manipulative and perceptual skills. In addition to drawing & painting, using a wide range of media, materials, techniques & tools students experience working in many art disciplines e.g modelling constructions, ceramics, sculpture, textiles, print making, product design graphics & ICT related activities
 (Year10 ICT CCEA Accreditation). Art Work units are carefully structured and mapped in monthly themes with a connected homework schedule as part of our Scheme of work to reinforce classroom learning and teaching among our students and to build skills incrementally. In the art department students are encouraged to widen knowledge & understanding within the subject by visiting local museums and art galleries in order to develop recording, and literacy skills. We also try to give students access to professional artists in different fields. The most recent example of this in our school was a Creative Learning Environmental Workshop in February / March 2007 where Year 9 students worked with artist Lauren Magill to create large willow sculpture structures. The project was overseen by SEELB Creative Learning Advisor Alberta Park and the student outcomes were displayed in the Odyssey Centre, Belfast in June 2007.

Internal Art & Design Awards and student motivation:
After internal examinations in Assessment 2 & 4 the art department awards a Certificate of Excellence to the highest achieving students in this subject.
Recent high achieving award winning student recipients in Assessment 4 (June 2009) include the following students:
Peter Boyd Year 8 / Conor Mullan Year 9 / Daniel Mc Carron Year 10
 
Year 8 Art & Design work units
• 8.1 - Principles of colour
• 8.2 - Line & Tone in Art & Design
• 8.3 - Primitive Cultures (Aboriginal Art)
• 8.4 -3D Insect Model making Sculpture Project
• 8.5 -3D Clay Design Project
• 8.6 - Ceremonial mask design
• 8.7 - Celtic Heritage ICT Project
• 8.8 - Looking at Local Landscape

Year 9 Art & Design work units
• 9.1 - The Self Portrait (expressing your emotions sthrough art project)
• 9.2 – 3D Relief sculpture based on the human head
• 9.3 – 2D Collage Project based on “action & movement”
• 9.4 - Ways of looking at 20th Century Art  (ICT Project)
• 9.5 - Design Project based on The Egyptians
• 9.6 - Ceramic Design project based on the  natural world.
• 9.7 - Design a tower (3D architectural design project)
• 9.8 - Growth & Decay Fine Art Project

Year 10 Art & Design work units
• 10.1 – Modern Architecture Building Design project
• 10.2 – 3D Figurative sculpture
• 10.3 – Picasso & Cubism Project
• 10.4 – “My Identity” Fine art project
• 10.5 – Local Urban environmental project
• 10.6 – Contemporary culture (ICT marketing & advertising Project)
• 10.7 – The Seashore (Environmental Fine Art project)
• 10.8 – Co. Down Tourism Promotion (ICT Project)

Departmental planning tracks individual progress by continuous assessment and evaluation. Student participation, engagement, motivation and creative development are encouraged throughout these activities to build confidence and self esteem on an individual and class level leading to progression and achievement within the tasks.
As part of our continuous assessment, careful attention is given to the homework schedule followed by KS3 students as a way to measure progress and develop close links with parents. In the art department we encourage our students to take pride in their work and a value in the creative outcomes produced.

Key Stage 4 & 5 curriculum:
Students at this level are entered for the following Public examinations;

• CCEA GCSE Art & Design (new specification Sept 2009)
Part 1 Coursework portfolio & Part 2 Externally Set Assignment
• CCEA AS Art & Design (new specification Sept 2009)
AS.1Coursework Portfolio & AS.2 Externally Set Assignment
• CCEA A2  Art & Design September 2009
A2.1 Personal Investigation (coursework & A2.2 Externally Set Assignment

*A student wishing to study Art & Design at AS/A2 Level needs to have a minimum of a Grade B in the subject at GCSE level plus a genuine interest and ability in this subject. Further details about the courses mentioned can be obtained from the CCEA  website: www.ccea.org.uk

All St Patrick’s students at this level are guided carefully and supported on an individual basis through the coursework and Externally set Assignments to produce high standard outcomes for the above public examinations. Each year our A2 art classes are taken to the CCEA True Colours Exhibition at Clarendon Dock, Belfast to help our student group target set for the forthcoming examinations.
(see School website Gallery for student coursework & display samples)

External Art & Design Awards
• Joint Top CCEA Art & Design GCSE Students in N Ireland 2006
            Cormac Carville, Paul Price
• Down District Safety Competition 2007 winners Philip Nicholl Year 9 & John Hampton Year 9
• CCEA 2008 True Colours selected coursework/ ESA samples from AS student Stephen Boyd Year 13 and GCSE students’ Shane Walsh Year 12 / John Mc Guckin Year 12. 
• A selection of our best student AS/A2 artwork from the 2009 public examinations will be on display in the Down Arts Centre Schools’ Art Exhibition during July/ August 2009

Recent Outstanding Final Year Art & Design students in St Patrick’s:
2005 Conor Flanagan
2006 Thomas Ward
2007 Colm Quinn
2008 Cormac Carville

2009 Stephen Boyd / Rory Mc Laughlin

*see Gallery section of school website for samples of additional artwork.

In the 55^th Texaco Children’s Art Competition 2009, several St. Patrick’s Grammar School students were awarded a Highly Commended Certificate for the quality of their artwork. The photograph shows the lucky students, from left Peter Boyd 8k, Ryan Murdock 10K, Gareth O Neill 10L, Martin Murray 10K, and Peter Cochrane 10K.

Gareth O Neill was also a Special Merit winner in the Category B (14 – 16 Age Group) section of the competition. Gareth’s artwork can be viewed on line at www.texacochildrensart.com. Gareth attended a Texaco Art presentation in Dublin on 27thMay 2009 where he was presented with a cheque for 100 euros amongst other prizes for his creative efforts. The Art & Design Dept is very proud of our prize winners as they have been chosen from an estimated entry of 43.000 students from across Ireland at all school levels.

Parents view the hard work and wide ranging creativity of our A level Art & Design students for the recent May 2009 CCEA Art examinations. Many positive comments were gratefully received from our very supportive parents.