Expressive Arts & Design Technology

Members of Staff

• Mr. A. Wilkinson: Subject Lead of Art and Photography
• Miss. S. Boota: Subject Lead of Design Technology 
• Mr. I. Anderson: Subject Lead of Performing Arts
• Mrs. K. Eastman: Expressive Arts and Design Technology Technician
• Mrs. C. Walsh: Teacher of Art
• Mrs. K. Knaggs: Teacher of Art and Design Technology
• Ms. S. Patel: Teacher of Art/Design Technology/Hospitality and Catering and Photography
• Mrs. P. Hastings: Teacher of Hospitality and Catering
• Miss M. Mapletoft: Teacher of Music
• Mr. D. French: TA

Faculty Overview

The Expressive Arts & Design Technology Faculty at Lancaster is very popular and successful. We run many different lunchtime and after school activities and pupils have regular opportunities to show their work through exhibitions and performances.

The Arts and Technology are taught holistically across the individual departments enabling pupils to develop many different creative skills technically, intellectually and socially. At the heart of the Faculty is the belief that all the subjects in the faculty contribute enormously to the overall emotional development of our pupils.

Our Faculty is a vibrant and exciting place to work and study. Pupils have regular opportunities to share their successes through exhibitions, school plays and musical performances. These occur both in school and within the wider community. Our musicians perform in a wide range of events, from rock gigs in Leicester town centre to the Lancaster Academy Awards evenings. There are three concerts within every calendar year; the very popular traditional Christmas Carol Concert, the KS4 concert in the Spring Term and the Summer Show. As well as offering organised extra-curricular activities throughout the year, we open up the Music department and offer our expertise to assist the students in rehearsing and setting up their own groups; this is an opportunity for the them to showcase their musical talents in either a solo or a small group capacity.

In art, pupils’ work goes on display at a range of exhibitions throughout the year including the The Open Exhibition at New Walk Museum. Further to this you will see our pupils work adorning the walls of the school and being displayed at selected evening events.

The Drama department puts on an annual school play. Each event is always performed in front of a full audience.

Most evenings, the work of staff and pupils continues after the end of the school day. Activities include structured sessions such as GCSE Art and Design Technology target groups and BTEC Music extension work to band rehearsals, choir practices and acting workshops.

Key Stage 3 Courses

In year 7 and 8 students study art, music, drama, hospitality and catering, design technology including textiles, plastics and timbers allowing them to build a broad awareness of skills and techniques across the subject areas.

Students have 1 double lesson of art and design technology in year 7 and year 8 spanning creative and artistic disciplines in each year. Please click on each subject to find out more.

Art

Art is taught in three purpose built studio rooms and a separate digital art suite. Pupils work across all art forms: observational based drawing, painting, sculpture and ceramics, printmaking and digital art. The classes are always busy but focussed with an established staff and clear rules and expectations.

The course content for art varies each year but currently we are focussing on the following:

Year 7

• Pupils are assessed on their observational drawing and painting skills and their knowledge and understanding of art.
• Pupils learn a range of skills and techniques and use these to develop a project.

Year 8

• Pupils develop their understanding of non western art.
• Pupils develop both 2D and 3D skills building on techniques learned in year 7 and readying them to make informed choices for what they would like to study from year 9 onwards.

Design Technology

Year 7

• Timbers
• Textiles

Year 8

• Plastics
• Hospitality and Catering

These units enable students to experience a broad curriculum equipping our students with breadth and depth of creative industries. The structure of the SOL is based on the national curriculum for Design and Technology/Hospitality and Catering as well as embedding key concepts and rich knowledge theory to prepare them for KS4 as well as the wider world in industry.

The topics enable students to learn and build on theory and practical within Design/ Hospitality by experimenting and developing skills in a range of workshop tools, techniques and equipment.

This is part of an ongoing journey so that by the end of KS3, students will have had developed a wide range of practical skills and in-depth knowledge and experience of specialist tools, techniques, processes, machinery and equipment in timbers, textiles product design, materials, CAD, CAM, electronics and hospitality & catering to provide an ambitious and broad curriculum of Design and Technology at Lancaster.

As part of the learning journey, students will be able to read fluently and be confident to read aloud as well as understand key subject vocabulary by reading in each lesson through the use of disciplinary and reciprocal reading strategies part of the Teaching and Learning policy. Theory content and subject terminology is embedded into each lesson to develop and build on existing learned knowledge. Written tasks and exam questions have been built into this SOL to enable students to apply key concepts and subject vocabulary that they have read into practice.

The Hospitality and Catering curriculum at Lancaster Academy is designed and sequenced so that our pupils can foster the skills, knowledge, creativity, character and cultural capital required to meet the needs of our community, promoting self-confidence and to apply the knowledge that they learn in lessons to the real world and to the diverse and multi-cultural community in which we live. With current economic and social challenges our curriculum teaches pupils how to plan and cook healthy and affordable meals as well as have a deep understanding of diet influences so that they are able adapt to change and solve problems. Our knowledge rich curriculum allows all of our pupils to think critically, articulate and be aware of their own thought processes and memory. We believe in student-led enquiry, the importance of discussion and articulation to develop awe and wonder.

At KS4 we provide a Level 1/2 Vocational Award in Hospitality and Catering (WJEC). This pathway is most suited for our demographic and links with employability skills within our READY values. It supports our students to understand the environment in which hospitality and catering providers operate. The units covered range from working in the hospitality and catering industry and Hospitality and catering in action. Hospitality and catering is a dynamic, vibrant and innovative sector delivering vital jobs, growth and investment in the heart of our local communities - important culturally, socially and economically. The Vocational Award in Hospitality and Catering has been designed to support learners who want to learn about this vocational sector and the potential it can offer them for their careers or further study. This further study would provide learners with the opportunity to develop a range of specialist and general skills that would support their progression to employment.

Performing Arts

In Year 9, students can choose to join our three-year KS4 Performing Arts Course. The first year provides a foundation of acting and devising skills to prepare learners for assessed work in both year  ten and eleven. Learners also have the opportunity to work with our Curve theatre link director over the course of the year, developing a live show that is performed at the theatre. In Year 10 and 11 learners follow the BTEC Tech Award qualification which is the equivalent of one GCSE. The course gives all participants the opportunity to study how theatre performances are developed, as well as developing scripted and devised work for assessment. There is also the opportunity for learners to follow the design/production pathway of the course from Year 10.

Key Stage 4 Courses

• GCSE Fine Art
• BTEC Art & Design
• BTEC Acting and Performance
• BTEC Music
• GCSE Design & Technology
• Hospitality & Catering

These subjects are optional for KS4 students. Students will have 3 hours in Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11. The subjects currently available for pupils to choose are:

GCSE Fine Art

A more traditional course in Art, students combine prior learning in artistic techniques with new and more modern methods of working and thinking to produce three major projects as coursework in Unit 1 and an Externally Set Task culminating in a 10 hour exam from a chosen theme for Unit 2.

Students will work in a variety of media and using a range of methods from traditional, drawing, painting and printmaking to the use of photography and digital media.

BTEC Art & Design

Students will work on a variety of different units across a range of artistic disciplines. Each unit will be awarded a final mark which will be added to subsequent unit marks as students progress through the course. This subject is more suited to students who prefer to work on smaller, more focussed areas in Art and allows the freedom to choose and submit work from disciplines which satisfy each unit.  

BTEC Acting and Performance/Music

In year 9, learners can choose to follow either a musical pathway, or develop their acting skills in dedicated drama lessons. Both our courses follow the popular RSL KS4 qualifications, giving learners an insight into how professional performers approach work in vocational settings. Both qualifications are the equivalent of one GCSE grade, and require learners to build up their practical skills with a firm focus towards performance.

Learners are able to access our dedicated drama studio, digital music production suite and instrumental rehearsal rooms. There are also a variety of extracurricular activities on offer, to allow learners to work towards public performances each year.

BTEC Music

The Music Department at Lancaster Academy is a dynamic and thriving hub of creativity. We are committed to offering a broad range of musical skills to ensure that students of all abilities can find joy in music. Our lessons are highly practical, with a focus on performance, composition, and active listening.

Over 60 students receive private music lessons each week from our team of professional visiting peripatetic teachers.
Currently, we offer lessons in:

• Violin
• Guitar
• Bass
• Ukulele
• Trombone
• Trumpet
• Flute
• Piano.

Students who pick music as a Key Stage 4 option have a 30-minute weekly private lesson on their chosen instrument. We also provide a variety of extracurricular activities, including a brass group, string ensemble, choir, and band club. The Music Department is open most evenings for individual practice sessions and group rehearsals. Each year, we host two concerts with the drama department to celebrate and showcase our students’ talents.

At Key Stage 4 students study a BTEC Tech Award in Music Performance, this capitalises on previous learning in music and builds on practical skills as well as accompanying coursework. Extra study support is offered after school throughout the year, as well as the private lessons already in place to support the requirements of this qualification.

GCSE Design and Technology (WJEC)

The new format GCSE in Design and Technology has been built to encompass a wide range of disciplines traditionally found separate from each other in previous years.

Students will follow one Design and Technology course and work towards a final grade which will test all of their learning in both practical and theoretical design technology.

In years 9 and 10, students will learn to use and apply design and technology principals through several different projects.

In year 11, students will complete two major components; a practical Controlled Assessment Task and a written exam.