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Hinchingbrooke School


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The school

Hinchingbrooke School is a mixed 11–18 comprehensive school north of Cambridge. The school has approximately 1,900 students, including the sixth form.

Vocational curriculum

The school provides a small vocational curriculum, which is expanding to meet the needs of the students. The numbers applying to these courses have been increasing due to substantial efforts to promote the courses. The school offers applied A levels in applied art and design, applied business, health and social care, information and communication technology, travel and tourism and performing arts.

Applied art and design

The art department has one part-time and four full-time members of staff teaching across key stages 3, 4 and 5 and has specialist facilities for ceramics and printing alongside drawing and painting. Throughout key stage 3, pupils develop a wide experience of art as teachers focus on developing basic art skills, concepts and creativity. This provides an excellent basis for vocational qualifications at both key stages 4 and 5, which require students to develop a wide range of specialist art skills.

At key stage 4, the department now offers GCSE in applied art and design, drawing and painting GCSE and is introducing pottery GCSE. At key stage 5, students can choose from AS/A2 drawing or painting or the vocational route of AGCE single award at AS leading to A2. This applied A level will be replacing the AVCE course. The last exam for the AVCE will take place in 2006.

Strengths and successes

Staff vocational expertise

All vocational art and design courses within the school are lead by a teacher who has worked as a commercial graphic designer and illustrator. This teacher has written and developed the briefs for vocational courses for the last four years. The school uses the Edexcel specifications for the new GCSEs and A level awards as they have found previous Edexcel courses to be comprehensive and easy to follow and both courses lead on from each other well. Previous experience of AVCE units is being used to inform planning for the new applied A level course.

Student-centred learning

The main objective for vocational art and design courses is to foster student-centred learning. Through teaching students to work with materials and develop artistic skills, students learn to be independent and responsible for themselves and their work. Students develop their own way of meeting briefs, specialising in materials and disciplines of their own choosing.

Planning of delivery

The department has examined the units within the applied A level and has found some similarities with the old AVCE units, especially regarding those visual elements, skills, materials, techniques and contextual areas covered in the syllabus. Teachers are developing briefs to enable students to meet the requirements of the new specifications and marking bands to the best of their ability, adapting existing relevant materials where these have been successful in delivering skills, concepts and independent learning. The willingness within the department to rewrite materials to reflect changes in the working world is seen as making courses more relevant and accessible to students and helps students relate to the working world of art and design.

Team working

Teachers work together in order to find the best way of delivering units. Courses are planned as a team and planning and delivery are carefully evaluated in order to establish which aspects of delivery have been successful.

Courses open to all

The vocational art and design courses are open to all students. At key stage 4, GCSE in applied art and design is aimed at students who want to dedicate more of their timetable to art and who perhaps might progress to further education and a career in the creative arts. Due to the fact that the double award covers a wider range disciplines, students who wish to experiment with different types of materials techniques and technology might choose this option.

Key stage 5

At key stage 5, students who want to take a vocational, work-based route choose the applied AS/A2. The school also has students who do the more traditional AS/A2 drawing and painting alongside the applied single award course, giving them a comprehensive basis for progression to a further education art course.

The single award A level in applied art and design will be taken alongside other AS/A2 subjects to make up three to four complete A levels at the end of the two sixth form years, depending on the student. The sixth form is interested in promoting itself to students from other schools. In 2005/06 the school expects the applied art and design A level course to attract external students from surrounding schools as well as students from the main school.

At the start of A level courses there is a transition period during which teachers assess the basic skills of all students, regardless of their background. This enables the school to adapt provision to meet the needs of students.

Progression from key stage 4

Teachers have observed that the A level in applied art and design leads on well from the applied GCSE and that the two courses share common features, such as marking bands. The marking bands are seen as encouraging students to become responsible for fulfilling the criteria and making progress alongside the teacher. Some teachers suggest that similarities between GCSE and A levels in applied art and design might lead to opportunities for more fluidity and links between key stages.

Studio environment

Applied art and design provision within the school employs a range of alternative teaching styles. While the focus is on skills-based learning, this is structured in ways that cater for all individuals and give students the vocational experience of becoming responsible, individual and creative artists.

An example of this approach is the use of the studio environment. Vocational courses have a designated small room within the department, for which students are responsible. This room becomes their studio and they can use it whenever they want. This promotes independent study and echoes how artists work in the real world. The students share the space so there is a sense of community. Work is in progress and on display. Students can see the work of their peers, thus encouraging an environment where thoughts and ideas about artwork can be exchanged. The studio offers a vocationally relevant student-centred learning environment. Students’ lessons also take place in this room. A sense of independence and responsibility generated through the studio environment motivates students to work.

Development of learning skills

Fostering self-reflection, self-evaluation and peer evaluation are seen as important aspects of the course – helping to prepare students for life after school, when they will be expected to form and express opinions about their own work and the work of others. This environment enables students to work independently on design briefs, with the support of the review system and clear criteria, just as they would if they were working for a client.

Teachers as professional artists

Another successful feature of provision has been the opportunity for teachers to work alongside students in the role of artist as distinct from that of teacher. Teachers create their own work in relation to specified project briefs or themes, so students can see how teachers approach the briefs and create examples of techniques and concepts. Students and teachers can then engage in active discussions about this process and develop greater understanding and enhanced relationships. Teachers see sharing higher-level examples of working methods as a way of pushing students to create more original and creative work. Working in this studio fashion enables teachers to deliver essential student-centred formative feedback. Course reviews indicate that students find this the preferred and most effective form of support and assessment.

Ongoing developments

Vocational links

The department is working on developing vocational links. Project briefs have generally been written around competitions and local events and the department is now planning to develop links with businesses and schools in the area and to encourage visiting artists and designers.

The school already participates in the Cambridge Open Studios initiative, during which artists in Cambridgeshire open their studios to the public over four weekends in June/July. This provides an excellent opportunity for students to visit practicing artists to see how they work and use them for inspiration and useful information about working in the professional world. In September 2005 students worked with students from Germany and Hungary as part of a Cultural Arts festival in Wertheim, Germany. This was seen as a valuable opportunity for students to learn new skills and work with artists of their own age from different cultural backgrounds.

Progression to higher education

In terms of progression, teachers feel that the vocational courses prepare students for careers in art and design as well as for the rigours of further art education, such as art foundation. Many students are expected to progress to a degree or HND within art and design. The new A level in applied art and design is seen as potentially equipping students to progress to sandwich degree programmes combining art with a second subject.

Also See

Vocational provision at key stage 4