Cardinal Newman Catholic School

Welcome to the Art and Photography Department

A very warm welcome to the Art and Photography department webpage. We hope that you will find the information outlined below useful, and please do not hesitate to contact us for further information regarding the department curriculum. In this section you will find our curriculum intent statement and details of the courses we offer to students, as well as links to useful resources and our popular Twitter account.

Our department consists of three specialist teachers. Mrs Hartshorn is head of department. Mrs Heer teaches art across all key stages and is a textiles specialist. Mrs Hurst specialises in photography and teaches across all key stages.
At Key Stage Three, we focus on building student’s creativity and practical skills. Observational work forms the basis for exploration of media and processes.

Our art block consists of four large rooms, one with 20 computers for students to use. We also have a separate media suite equipped with 15 Mac computers and a dedicated photography studio with screens and lighting equipment. Our computers all have the latest version of Adobe Photoshop installed to support students with digital editing. We also have a bank of DSLR cameras which we can loan out to students for homework tasks.
We offer GCSE and A Level courses in both art and photography. We follow the OCR exam board for both our GCSE and A Level qualifications.
We regularly post our students work on Twitter, so please follow us and support our talented students. @CNCSArt

Meet the department

Mrs Hartshorn - Head of Department - carolyn.hartshorn@hccmac.co.uk
Mrs Heer - Teacher - amarjit.heer@hccmac.co.uk
Mrs Hurst - Teacher - chloe.hurst@hccmac.co.uk

Homework

KS3 (7-9)

Art HW at KS3 will be set and handed in using Class charts. Students are required to complete tasks and upload them to Class charts. Paper for these homework tasks will be provided in lessons.

In KS3 Art HW will be set in a three-week cycle and should take 20mins.

KS4 (10/11)

Art and Photography HW at KS4 will be more varied as at times students will be working in sketchbooks or Google classroom on tasks. Your teacher will advise you how to hand in each HW.

In KS4 HW will be set every fortnight and should take 45mins.

KS5 (12/13)

At KS5 HW will be coursework based and so set in a far more individual way. Students are set targets to complete work for HW.

In KS5 HW is set weekly and should take 5 hours.

Equipment and Resources

Our art and photography department is excellently equipped so we can provide materials and equipment for specialist practical tasks. It is however essential students attend their art lessons with basic equipment. Pencils, sharpeners, rubbers, pens and rulers are a must to ensure students can engage with the lesson content successfully.

For those keen artists it would be wonderful to bring along any extra or specialist equipment you may have at home. Items such as specialist drawing pencils (2B,3B, 4Bs etc) paint brushes and paint sets and even canvasses are welcomed in lessons. At GCSE and A Level, it would be really helpful to have a set of drawing pencils.

For those students taking photography please be advised we have a bank of high quality DSLR cameras which we loan to students. It is always beneficial however if students have their own camera to use.

If you would like any advice on the best quality and value resources and where best to purchase them please do not hesitate to contact us in the art department.

department praise and recognition

In the art department we understand the importance of providing praise for high quality work. We often post images of ‘best work’ on our twitter account so please sign up!

Our students work will also be frequently be displayed in the school newsletter as well as around our school site.

In lessons we use praise stickers, aspire points as well as post cards for high quality outcomes as well as high levels of effort.

Upcoming Events

Coming soon

careers in art and photography

Art and Photography at GCSE and A Level can be a fantastic start to a creative career. There are numerous exciting career pathways available to those interested in the arts. After completing an A Level in photography or art there are a wealth of creative courses available at university. Here are the possibilities at Coventry:

https://www.coventry.ac.uk/search/?search=&contentType=newcoursepage&sl=140&sch=1255

We are very proud of the achievements of our students and have high aspirations for their Post 16 and 18 destinations. Students who studied Art and Photography and left CNCS in 2022, went on to the following destinations:

Film Studies at Warwick University.

Fashion Design at Birmingham University

Animation at Coventry University

Film Production at Coventry University.

Below are some helpful links which show a range of possibilities available in the arts: