Art, Design and Technology

The purpose of the Art curriculum at The Howard School is:

• to allow our students to learn how to interpret and create images.
• encourage the creativity of our students, building their interpretative and technical skills and enhancing their understanding of the power of images and sculpture to communicate their views of the world.
• to incorporate the following: historical, contemporary, social, cultural and issues-based contexts, techniques and aesthetics to inspire and to evolve these in response to the needs of our students’ projects.
• to enable our students to confidently develop ideas, themes, subjects and understand how feelings can inspire creative responses.
• to support our students’ understanding of how visual language can communicate personal ideas, meanings and responses. 
• to allow our students to critically reflect upon their creative journey encouraging them to have independent views and opinions, over time.

The purpose of the Design and Technology curriculum at The Howard School is:

• to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills to demonstrate a sound understanding of the key areas of study: timbers, metals, textiles, polymers, electronics and graphic communication.
• to develop our students’ understanding of the design model, including research and analysis, designing ideas, developing ideas, manufacturing and evaluation.
• to afford students a deep understanding of a broad range of knowledge and skills, pertaining to the domains of design and technology by KS4.
• to foster knowledge pertaining to: new and emerging technologies; industry and enterprise; the history and future of production scales, techniques and systems; the changing landscape of energy generation and storage; materials and their working properties, including: papers and boards, timbers, metals, polymers, textiles, technical textiles, modern, smart and composite materials; mechanical and electronic systems; forces and stresses on products; Design theory, including: research, strategies, design communication, prototype development, analysis, evaluation, innovation, functionality, aesthetics, systems design and iterative design; the use of primary and secondary data; the work of successful designers and brands.
• to establish independent and creative designers, armed with a broad range of high quality practical skills by KS5. This will enable our students to realise innovative and unique practical designs. Our students’ knowledge and skills are underpinned by the historical context of design and analysis of successful designers and makers. The curriculum is diverse, holding freedom of expression and thought at its core. Its purpose is to encourage students to develop their abilities to experiment, investigate, analyse and evaluate, through this curiosity, amassing a broad range of practical skills and knowledge.