Creative
“Creativity is intelligence having fun” – Albert Einstein
Vision Statement
The Creative department at Birkdale High School believe that all children should be entitled to experience a wide range of creative opportunities, to develop their creativity and ideas and increase proficiency in their execution. As a department we must nurture all students’ creative talents and seek opportunities for them to develop as individuals and achieve their maximum potential; regardless of their starting points. Alongside literacy and numeracy, the skills of creativity and performance which are intrinsic to our subjects are essential lifelong skills. The Creative industry is fast developing and creative people are highly sought after in the world of work, it is our job at Birkdale not only to begin to prepare and shape students in readiness for these many opportunities, but also to support them in becoming well rounded and confident human beings.
Across the Creative department within the three disciplines of Art, Music and Drama, students will have the opportunities to develop many skills, working with a wide range of materials, styles and techniques in Art, different instruments and musical styles in Music and various performance styles and technical areas in Drama. The curriculum at Foundation stage provides the building blocks for students who then choose to opt for our subjects at Examination stage. The Foundation schemes of work are purposely designed to provide the students with a wide variety of skills, techniques and experiences across the three disciplines. Our schemes of work are developed to ensure that all students are taken through step by step instructions to enable them to develop their own work and skills into successful and individual final pieces of work in Art, or compositions and opportunities for performance in Music and Drama. These performance and compositional skills are not only vital aspects of the Music and Drama curriculum, but also help to provide students with essential life skills and build self esteem.
The Big Ideas
Art
AO1: Develop ideas through investigations, demonstrating critical understanding of sources.
AO2: Refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes.
AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions as work progresses.
AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and demonstrates understanding of visual language.
Drama
AO1: Create and develop ideas to communicate meaning for theatrical performance.
AO2: Apply theatrical skills to realise artistic intentions in live performance.
AO3: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how drama and theatre is developed and performed.
AO4: Analyse and evaluate their own work and the work of others.
Music
AO1 Perform with technical control, expression and interpretation.
AO2 Compose and develop musical ideas with technical control and coherence.
AO3 Demonstrate and apply musical knowledge.
AO4 Use appraising skills to make evaluative and critical judgements about music.
Cultural Capital
Throughout both our curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities we aim to provide students with a wide range of experiences to experience the wider world.
- World Art project
- Identity Art project
- Pop Art project
- Theatre trips
- Ugly bucket theatre workshops
- African Drumming project
- The Blues project
- DOT Art competition
An Equitable Curriculum - Removing Barriers
All Creative classrooms have a visualiser which our teachers use to model for our students, therefore scaffolding more challenging curriculum content so that it is accessible to all.
All topics lead to a final piece/performance but the lead up to the final outcome is well developed and broken down to smaller skills/steps. These skills and steps are then built on to enable all students to achieve and experience success in reaching that final outcome.
In the Foundation Stage classes are mixed ability to ensure that all get to see what ‘excellence’ looks and sounds like. This also ensures that students adopt more of a growth mindset and focus on improvement as opposed to feeling labeled.
Any written element of the courses studied at GCSE have plenty of support materials to help students scaffold their work, enabling them to make appropriate and relevant comments about their own work, the work of other artists and performers, or set pieces they have to study.
Curriculum Structure
| Art - Foundation Stage - Years 7, 8 & 9 | Art - Examination Stage - Years 10 & 11 |
|---|---|
| Year 7 - 2 hours per cycle mixed ability Year 8 - 3 hour per cycle mixed ability Year 9 - 5 hours per cycle mixed ability option groups | GCSE Art (AQA) 5 hours per cycle mixed ability option groups |
| Drama - Foundation Stage - Years 7, 8 & 9 | Drama - Examination Stage Years 10 & 11 |
| Year 7 - 1 hour per cycle mixed ability Year 8 - 1 hour per cycle mixed ability Year 9 - 5 hours per cycle mixed ability option groups | GCSE Drama (AQA) 5 hours per cycle mixed ability option groups |
| Music - Foundation Stage - Years 7, 8 & 9 | Music - Examination Stage - Years 10 & 11 |
| Year 7 - 2 hours per cycle mixed ability Year 8 - 2 hours per cycle mixed ability Year 9 - 5 hours per cycle mixed ability option groups | BTEC Music (OCR) 5 hours per cycle mixed ability option groups |
Staffing
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Curriculum Leader | Mrs Carrington |
| Teacher of Art | Mrs Sinclair |
| Teacher of Drama and Music | Miss Rimmer |
| Teacher of Music | Mrs Roberts |
| Teacher of Music | Mrs Brogden |
| Autumn Term 1 | Autumn Term 2 | Spring Term 1 | Spring Term 2 | Summer Term 1 | Summer term 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 7 | Identifying Skills | Identifying Skills | Identity (portraits) | Identity (portraits) | World Art | World Art |
| Year 8 | Steampunk | Steampunk | PopArt Portraits | Pop Art Portraits | Mythical Creatures | Mythical creatures |
| Year 9 | Close up | |||||
| Year 10 | Portrait | |||||
| Year 11 | Externally Set task |
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 7 | Introduction to Drama Developing group work skills Introduction to ‘Vocal and Physical Skills | Introduction to Drama Development of Vocal and Physical Skills Introduction to improvisation skills Devised group performance task | Genre,Styles and Conventions Exploring key genres Exploring key styles Developing use of key methodologies. | Genre,Styles and Conventions Developing use of key methodologies Devised group performance task. Introduction to key practitioners. | The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Exploring historical context Implementing key dramatical skills | The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Developing character and role Devised group or solo performance task. Writing in role. |
| Year 8 | Introduction to Drama Developing group work skills Introduction to ‘Vocal and Physical Skills | Introduction to Drama Development of Vocal and Physical Skills Introduction to improvisation skills Devised group performance task | Our Day Out – Willy Russell Social/historical context of the play: education in the 1970s v modern day. Exploring how humour created through structure and use of stage directions Plan and rehearse Group scene at ‘The Zoo’ | Our Day Out – Willy Russell Performance skills and self assessment/ target setting Writing in role - letter of complaint Devising in response to text who was to blame? | Theatre in Education Intro to didactic Theatre as a means to educate an audience Exploring verbatim and techniques used by TIE Companies Intro to historical context of Hillsborough Disaster. | Theatre in Education Group devising project - creating a short piece of TIE around Hillsborough aimed at a Year 7 audience Performance and evaluation of devised pieces. Builds upon the knowledge they have gained from their form time PSHCE |
| Year 9 | Introduction to GCSE Creating group dynamic/expectations Intro to written exam - section A Types of staging Blocking 9 square grid Beginning to describe, analyse and evaluate Intro to Performance Assessment - TEECHERS Exploring conventions | Preparing for Performance 1 Character work Working as a CHORUS Costume Design Setting aims and intentions for performance Evaluation and target setting in relation to performance criteria. Performance of group piece | Developing Performance Skills Analysing a text Preparing to perform a monologue or Duologue. Committing to memory longer sections of text. Evaluation and target setting in relation to performance criteria. | Written exam – section C: Writing about Live performance and Devised Drama Preparation for Theatre Trip – Theatre Trip/Workshop Writing an evaluation of live theatre performance Exploring devised theatre Exploring stimuli Developing character and technical skills. | Written exam - section B: Set Text Blood Brothers Intro to Character/ Setting/Themes/Plot Exploring Technical elements – Intro to lighting and sound Exploring Design elements – Into to props/set/costume Devising Drama Devising Drama exploring stimuli. Overview of unit and assessment (40% of GCSE) Teacher led workshops on | Written exam - section B: Set Text Blood Brothers Performance space and proxemics Character development e.g. hot-seating/role play around text Answering exam style questions on Blood Brothers Devising Drama Devising Drama exploring stimuli. Developing devised performances in groups |
| Year 10 | Skills audit/Target setting Recap -Types of staging Blocking 9 square grid Consolidating understanding of how to describe, analyse and evaluate. Intro to Performance Assessment | Preparing for Performance 2 Character work Working as a CHORUS Costume Design Setting aims and intentions for performance Evaluation and target setting in relation to performance criteria. | Component 2: Devising Drama Overview of unit and assessment (40% of GCSE) Teacher led workshops on devising in response to stimulus Starting to devise in groups. Start PORTFOLIO section 1 – RESPONSE (controlled assessment – 800 words =10%) | Component 2: Devising Drama Complete PORTFOLIO section 1 – RESPONSE (controlled assessment – 800 words = 10%) Developing devised performances in groups Peer assessment half way through the process Complete PORTFOLIO section 2 – DEVELOPMENT (controlled assessment – 800 words = 10% | Component 2: Devising Drama Final rehearsals and performance (worth 10%) Complete PORTFOLIO section 3 – EVALUATION (controlled assessment – 800 words = 10%) Feedback, target setting, re-drafting/fix it in controlled conditions. | Written exam – section C: Writing about a live performance Intro to Live Performance Plot, character and context. Writing an evaluation under exam conditions Target setting for Year 11 |
| Year 11 | Written exam - section B: Set Text Blood Brothers Consolidating understanding of plot Communicating key roles using performance space, vocal and physical skills Answering exam style questions on Blood Brothers in preparation for Year 11 Mock | Written exam – section C: Writing about a live performance Live Performance Note-taking on key scenes in performance Planning answers to exam style questions Year 11 Mock Fix it Target setting | Preparing for Performance EXAM Selection of texts Choosing groups Blocking and rehearsal of EXTRACT 1 (10%) Setting aims and intentions for performance of EXTRACT 1 Peer/staff feedback in relation to performance criteria. | Preparing for Performance EXAM Blocking and rehearsal of EXTRACT 2 Setting aims and intentions for performance of EXTRACT 2 Performance exam takes place to an examiner - March 21st | Written exam preparation Section A: Job Roles Types of staging Section B Set Text – Blood Brothers Section C Live Production – Billy Elliot | Written exam preparation Section A: Job Roles Types of staging Section B Set Text – Blood Brothers Section C Live Production – Billy Elliot |
Music - Programmes of Study
| Autumn Term 1 | Autumn Term 2 | Spring Term 1 | Spring Term 2 | Summer Term 1 | Summer Term 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 7 | Machine Music (Basic Rhythm) | Pitch & Put (Keyboard and staff notation) | Gamelan (texture/ostinato) | Ground Bass | Steel Pans (syncopation) | 4 Chord Trick |
| Year 8 | African Drumming (polyrhythm) | African Drumming (polyrhythm) | The Blues (riffs/chords /improvisation) | The Blues (riffs/chords/ improvisation) | Reggae (off beat accompaniment) | Samba (rhythm & syncopation) |
| Year 9 | Key Skills Development (Staff notation & Sibelius) Solo performance skills | Key Skills Development (Using chords to perform and understanding tonality) Ensemble performance skills | Key Skills Development (Principles of composition & Cubase) Solo performance skills | Key Skills Development (Using chords to compose and understanding tonality) Ensemble performance skills | Key skills development (application of musical elements in composition & appraisal) | Key Skills Development (composing to a brief, structure in western classical music) |