Art classes take place in a purpose-built studio and the art work displayed around the school demonstrates the high quality of work produced, with a very high percentage of pupils achieving A*/A at GCSE. Pupils are taught drawing skills as a foundation for all art, and utilise a wide range of media including silk screen, acrylic and oil paints, ceramics and lino-cutting. All pupils who take GCSE Art undertake a project with instruction from a professional ceramicist.
Laptops are used for computer-generated art, animation and 3-D design. The Art facility has recently been enhanced with the addition of a kiln room and small media studio equipped with Mac computers for increased opportunities in computer-generated art, graphics and photography.
The school's excellence in Art has been confirmed by our winning the Good Schools' Guide Fine Art Award 2009 in both the boys' and girls' categories. This means that Thames achieved the best GCSE results in Fine Art of any independent school in England from 2006 to 2008.
Dominic's Story
Dominic was particularly talented in Art and especially strong in observational drawing, enabling to achieve an A* grade, with his exam unit, a satirical political cartoon, scoring 100%. Overall he achieved 10 A*-B passes which was much higher than his CATs predictions. Dominic wants to study film-making after he has taken his A levels.
Dominic co-led our Mentoring Programme, acting as a mature role model to some needy children at nearby Falconbrook Primary School.
The school's excellence in Art has been confirmed by our winning the Good Schools' Guide GCSE Art Award 2009 for both boys and girls.
