S5-6 Art & design

Ambition, Confidence, Happiness and Respect.

For National 5 and Higher the courses offered will be divided into ‘Expressive’ work and ‘Design’ work. In design pupils will develop knowledge and understanding of a range of design areas, such as graphics, fashion/textiles and product design. For the expressive element of the course, they will work within the fields of still life, portraiture, landscape and figure.  

Pupils will have 6 periods of teaching per week for the whole year.

Exemplar units include: 

• clay building techniques
• 3D clay product design
• 2D stained glass design
• screen printing for textiles/fashion
• 3D clay sculpture and digital photography

How this course can help you

The field of Art and Design is very wide with many career opportunities. Pupils who want to work in the design world, media and television, as well as teaching and working with children of all ages would benefit from taking this course. Through this course pupils will gain confidence and understanding of the visual worlds we live and work in. The core skills of literacy, numeracy and Health and Wellbeing will continue through our varied mediums

Expectations of the department

Pupils will be expected to take an active role in their learning both in class and through homework tasks. 

Homework will be set regularly to help them develop their skills and this is a very important part of the course.  

Pupils should be prepared to work independently and take responsibility for their own learning. 

Homework will form part of their coursework and should be completed as requested by their teacher.

Pupils will be expected to research and develop their own ideas in order to show creative thinking.

NPA Art and Design

The aim of the National Progression Award in Art and Design at level 5 is to provide a structured award that creates opportunities for candidates to gain practical and theoretical knowledge and understanding of a range of printmaking, mixed media and illustration skills and techniques for art and design applications. 

It has three units:

• Introduction to printmaking
• Introduction to Illustration 
• Introduction to mixed media