Art & Design is central to the curriculum and expectations of achievement are high throughout the campus. We believe the contribution that Art & Design makes to every child’s education is invaluable and the opportunities and experiences offered by Art & Design on campus aim to foster thinking, communication, physical and social skills alongside spiritual, moral and cultural development for all of our students.

Mission Statement

Within the Art curriculum we aim to establish a creative, supportive and encouraging atmosphere in which staff and students can work in a relaxed, imaginative and energetic way. The subject of Art is concerned with organic and developed approaches with practising teachers as powerful role models.
We aim to stimulate visual awareness in students by challenging, extending and intensifying their aesthetic experience using nature, various cultures and artists, and investigating the man-made environment. Lessons in Art and Design can then be a channel for every student to express their own individual sensibility, intuition, sensitivities, feelings and emotions.
The Art curriculum will encourage independent study through individual research based on investigation using the student's own initiative, critical awareness and analysis. We recognise that creativity is the basis of innovative thinking and as such see the creative process as equal in worth to the final product.

The programme of study in the Primary School is designed to:

• develop children’s creativity and enquiry
• develop practical skills and techniques and an appropriate use of materials
• guide children towards an appreciation of their own art and that of other artists, era and cultures
• develop visual awareness

Within the Secondary School we strive towards the further development of:

• creative, imaginative and innovative thought
• the ability to formulate and communicate ideas and feelings visually
• the ability to analyse, solve problems and evaluate the results
• self image, self reliance and responsiveness
• aesthetic awareness
• awareness and respect for other people and the environment
• physical and perceptual skills
• passion, tenacity, commitment, motivation, enthusiasm and ambition

Our teaching is based on the belief that Art & Design is concerned with the making of choices and decisions, and that most of these must eventually be made by the student. There must, however, be experience and knowledge upon which these choices will be based, and a gradual build-up of responsibility for making them, if the decisions made are to be sound, valid and meaningful. Therefore, over the course of their Art education, students are given increasing freedom to make choices and to take responsibility for the direction their learning takes, basing those decisions upon knowledge and experience already accumulated.

Students acquire technical skills and the understanding of how to apply a broad range of disciplines to express their ideas. They are encouraged to develop decision-making and problem-solving skills in relation to the use of the chosen medium to interpret and present the given theme. All teaching ensures that investigating and making incorporates exploring and developing work; with knowledge and understanding and the introduction to the work of a variety of practitioners, from a broad range of historical and socio-cultural backgrounds, naturally informing the process.

The Art & Design Design course is offered at IGCSE level and for Senior Students IB Visual Arts is offered at both Higher and Standard levels.