At Highfield Middle School, our Art and Design Department serves as a vibrant centre of creativity within the school community. We are dedicated to nurturing each pupil’s unique creative mind while fostering an appreciation for the richness of art and art history through different cultures and art movements. 

We deliver specialist teaching in Art across key stages 2 and 3, ensuring pupils are engaged, inspired, challenged, and supported to develop and build on a toolkit of essential skills. Our curriculum is designed so that every student has the opportunity to experience success by working with diverse art materials, processes, mediums, and techniques. Students are taught to understand and use the elements of art, principles of design, and expressive images to communicate their ideas effectively in their artwork. By encouraging experimentation, invention, and the creation of original works of art, we foster a sense of ownership and creativity. Through a range of popular, extra-curricular Art clubs, pupils have the opportunity to engage in their own creative projects alongside curriculum based work. 

We aim to widen students’ artistic experiences by exposing them to a variety of art from different cultures, historical periods, artists and art movements. We teach them to appreciate the relevance of art to the modern world, considering how art reflects and shapes history and by making connections between their creations and the broader cultural context. Students will create works of art exploring diverse subject matter, topics and themes during their time at Highfield. We work closely with other schools within our Trust to ensure that our curriculum prepares pupils for Year 9 and beyond. Where possible we aim to take pupils to the yearly GCSE art exhibition at our feeder High School in order to offer them an aspirational insight into the future of their art education.

The art curriculum promotes the personal development of pupils, helping them to cultivate the skills of critical thinking and reflection. Through a considerate classroom environment where all students are respected, and their opinions valued, they are taught to analyse and evaluate their own artwork and that of others; students develop the ability to express reasoned judgments, informing their own work and contributing to their growth as thoughtful and informed artists.

The Highfield Art and Design Department is committed to providing an enriching artistic education, preparing students not only for academic success but also for a lifelong journey of creative exploration and expression.