Art & Design

Departmental Staff

Mrs E Burns, BA (Canterbury) Head of Art & Design
Mr W H Edwards, BA (Staffordshire Polytechnic)
N J Fowles, BA (Kent)
Mrs S J T Genillard, ATC (Goldsmith’s)
Ms R L Mansfield, BA (Southampton Institute) †
Mrs R C Robinson, BA (Brighton) †
Miss H Suchy † Technician
Mrs J Pearce† Technician

Art & Design at RGS

Art is distinctive in the way that it enables us to combine feeling, thinking and making. The Art Department believes that Art and Design makes a unique and significant contribution to school life and to the learning experience of all pupils. Art is all encompassing and all pupils have the opportunity to explore different ways of expressing ideas, experimenting with a broad range of materials, techniques and processes and develop an awareness of their visual world and the cultures that have shaped it.

The Art Department at Reigate Grammar School has a strong reputation for the quality of its work and for the broad range of disciplines it offers its pupils. Those disciplines offered at present are painting and drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography, ceramics and textiles. The department believes that pupils should be able to become independent learners, and that they should feel able to take risks with their work within a supportive and nurturing environment.

The department benefits from purpose-built accommodation, constructed in 1995, which consists of three main studio areas, a darkroom and sixth form studio. Students’ work is displayed around the school, especially in the main entrance hall and Wright Gallery. Pupils from all year groups have the opportunity to exhibit their work in the annual Art Exhibition in the Sports Hall and opportunities are also often taken up to exhibit work outside school, for example at locally organised exhibitions or competitions.

At Key Stage Three, a system of rotation operates to ensure that pupils have every opportunity to experience a broad range of practices on an annual basis.  After this foundation period, pupils may choose to continue with their studies in Art and Design at GCSE level and subsequently at A-level. The department currently follows the Fine Art endorsement for GCSE and Art and Design (Unendorsed) for A level.

Approximately thirty pupils per year (around one quarter of the year group) opt for the Art GCSE.  In contrast to the KS3 course, the GCSE is run as a linear course and groups stay with one teacher throughout the course. We have at present twenty-nine pupils over the two year groups studying Art for A level a significant increase in the last two years.

Clubs and after school activities are an integral part of the departments’ wider contribution to school life. These range from life drawing classes for Sixth Form students to the lunchtime and after school art club for all year groups. The GCSE and A level pupils also have the opportunity to attend coursework workshops during all the holidays.   

For a summary of the course please click here.

Examination Boards

GCSE: EDEXCEL
A-level: EDEXCEL

Examination Results

Departmental activities 2010-11

Coursework catch up workshops
October half term, Christmas, February half term and Easter Holidays. All of the sessions were incredibly well attended and pupils really benefitted from being able to work on projects for full days at a time.

Printmaking and Photography Workshops
Pupils in the Third Form were given the opportunity to take part in either the screen printing workshop or the photography workshop. This was aimed at the pupils who opted for GCSE Art, to give them a taster of a new process and one they may wish to introduce into their work as they go through their GCSE course.

Art Exhibition
The Exhibition was a fantastic success with pupils from all year groups being given the opportunity to exhibit their work, held in the Wright Gallery and Sports Hall it certainly was a feast for the eyes.