Art & Design Technology

“I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn’t say other ways- things I had no words for.” - Georgia O’Keeffe

Here in the Art and Design Technology department, it is our passion to deliver outstanding lessons across a wide range of artistic and creative subjects. Our full offer across KS3 and KS4 covers Art, Textiles, 3D Design, Art Graphics, Photography and Food Technology. Each member of the Art and Tech team deliver passionate and exciting lessons across all subjects, with the students' individual needs and interests at the forefront of our planning. 

Each area of our curriculum provides students with a range of cultural, political, and environmental topics, encouraging respectful discussion and analysis of current events through creativity and problem solving. We are passionate about celebrating individuality through our courses, supporting and challenging students in all aspects of Art and Design.

With the help of our student subject ambassadors, we are able to plan and deliver exciting extra-curricular opportunities outside of the classroom; supporting personal creative interests through a range of skill workshops and enrichment. We also run various house competitions throughout the year, and take part in national competitions with institutions such as Aspex Gallery and the Royal Academy. 

Key Stage 3:

Key Stage 4:

For students opting for an Art and Design Technology option at KS4, we offer a wide variety of courses. 

More information about each specification can be found here: 

Fine Art, Photography, Graphic Communication, Textiles, 3D Design: 

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/art-and-design/gcse/art-and-design-8201-8206/specification-at-a-glance

At KS3 students are expected to attend Art, Tech or Photography clubs as part of their independent learning. We have a wide range of opportunities for students to attend clubs at break and lunch time as well as after school, giving plenty of opportunities to learn skills they may not cover in lessons such as using DSLR cameras, photoshop, cyanotypes, printing and more. 

We also run various competitions throughout the year which we encourage all students to participate in. These include, but are not limited to, our annual Christmas card competition, the Royal Academy Young Artists’ Summer Show and the Aspex gallery’s Youth Platform exhibition. 

GCSE Students are expected to complete an hour of independent work a fortnight. This can be in the form of staying after school to complete work, completing work at home, taking photographs to support their portfolios or completing independent research. 

Welcome to Art and Design Technology (ADT)!

I am so proud to be the Director of ADT, working with a fantastic team of staff to deliver the absolute best Art and Design Technology curriculums for our students. Our team is passionate about absolutely everything creative and between us it is our goal to provide a broad and flexible curriculum covering an extensive range of skills, techniques and processes, constantly challenging ourselves to learn new disciplines so that we can offer our students the best possible courses built with them in mind. Our GCSE offer consists of: Fine Art, Art Graphics, Photography, Art Textiles, 3D Design and Food Preparation and Nutrition. We ensure that all students are well prepared to opt for the correct course for them through our extensive KS3 offer where we cover Graphics, Textiles, 3D Design and Food Technology through our KS3 Design Technology rotations. We also develop Fine Art and some Photography skills throughout KS3 Art lessons too. Our courses are developed and adapted regularly to suit the needs, interests and strengths of the students, with cultural, historical and contextual theory interwoven at every opportunity. 

We believe that passion and creativity can be found within us all, you just have to jump in with both feet! 

Faith Geehan (Director of ADT) fgeehan@trafalgarschool.org.uk 

Rebecca Sturgess (Second in Department) rsturgess@trafalgarschool.org.uk 

Grant Morris gmorris@trafalgarschool.org.uk 

Rosie Clements-Gander rclements-gander@trafalgarschool.org.uk

Gemma Pearse gpearse@trafalgarschool.org.uk

Liberty Morrison lmorrison@trafalgarschool.org.uk

James Grey (Senior Technician) jgrey@trafalgarschool.org.uk

Kevin James (Technician) kjames@trafalgarschool.org.uk