THE SCHOOL

Subject Departments: Arts

The Art Department

The Art Department is dedicated to the creation and appreciation of art as central, formative, educational experiences. We seek to foster the development of our students' work by opening their minds to the vistas of possibility and challenge that art offers, and by equipping them, from the outset, with the insights and practical techniques that will enable them to progress far. The work of established artists and designers, both past masters and contemporary practitioners, is used to guide and inspire our students, who soon learn to set about and their own work with that serious commitment and sustained concentration which are so often productive of excellent results.

The starting-point for all the Department's work is the spirit of exploration. A particular theme, idea or issue, (more or less central to the Western Tradition) is selected, and deeply considered on the basis of a range of art-works, so that conceptual understanding and technical possibilities of expression develop side by side. Through this approach, students are encouraged to develop an understanding of the potential of art as a means of communicating their own personal response in their own artistic fashion. Once embarked upon a task, students are supervised closely by their teachers, who intervene with advice and encouragement as and when appropriate, empathetically seeking to help to realise the individual vision of the young artist.

During Key Stage 3, students learn to appreciate how artists, designers and craftspeople throughout the ages have concentrated upon a relatively few themes and subject areas. Specifically, the focus is upon portraits, figure composition, still life, landscapes, animals and the man-made environment. Within these large themes, there is ample opportunity for a diversity of approaches and processes, and students acquire a sound understanding of the scope of art in today's world.

At Key Stage 4 (GCSE), themes and subject matter already introduced are developed, and the student's sense of artistic possibilities and practices much enriched. Most projects now begin with a visit to the Liverpool Tate or the Walker Gallery. Back in the art room, students are taught how to re-conceive and interpret what they have seen so as to feed and foster their individual artistic talents. Their powers of observation are enhanced through drawing, and they experiment with making imaginative and conceptual leaps from initial source material. Thus, they learn something of the true artist's ability to be creatively self-critical in the assessment and constant improvement of their own work.

In the sixth form, courses at both AS and A2 Levels are offered. Those who choose them move by degrees towards becoming independent learners and self-motivated young artistic practitioners. Regular visits to galleries continue, in search of stimulating ideas and themes. Paintings, images and artifacts are analysed and evaluated in a systematic way - in order to identify their intrinsic qualities, and to serve as a point de depart for the student's own work. A deeper acquaintance with the language of art criticism and discussion is acquired, and students gain experience in casting their impressions and insights into reflective written form. This growing ability to identify the nature of artistic intentions is both a challenging intellectual exercise, and a productive technique for truly appreciating, and truly creating, worthwhile art.

The Design and Technology Department

As with the rest of the school, the DT department has undergone radical changes over the last year. Two new teaching rooms and a large workshop area with modern equipment. 20 new computer workstations are to be installed in the DT department over the next month.

The aim of the Department is to foster an awareness of past and present design concepts (as a stimulus to students' own work) by using a variety of processes materials and disciplines, including resistant materials, graphics, textiles and electronics. Further, we seek to promote and develop our students' appreciation of the importance of technology when viewed from moral, social and environmental perspectives.

Teaching and learning are based upon a variety of practical, written, and examination-centred activities. Students have the opportunity to follow a course of carefully themed and inter-linked design activities, acquiring knowledge and expertise progressively, Key Stage by Key Stage. Advanced students have considerable choice with regard to the particular design problems they would wish to address: they will have received a thorough training in principles and techniques, and are further supported by members of the Department on an individual basis.

At Key Stage 3, pupils work on a "carousel" system, such that each term they move on to a different project in a subject-specific area of technology. Thus, pupils are introduced to a wide range of design challenges, and have access to an equal diversity of working and learning styles. The aim is to develop positive attitudes of co-operation and collaboration (and to touch upon themes of the Citizenship agenda, with regard to the social effects of design).

Pupils develop the fundamental key skills of the subject, clustering within the areas of problem-solving and communication. They have ample opportunities both to develop individual resourcefulness, and to discover the benefits of working in a team. Pupils are taken on trips to a textile mill and the museum of science and industry, with the result that minds are well and truly opened on to the scope and importance of the subject!

Pupils at Key Stage 3 are encouraged to enter design competitions and great success has been achieved. Robots have been entered in the "Technogames" competition, and Gifted and Talented pupils have been commissioned to produce work for Jaguar Cars.

At Key Stage 4, in common with all technology subjects, 60% of the final GCSE Grade is based upon coursework, and the remaining 40% via examination, either at the Foundation or Higher Level. Students are carefully supervised in their selection and completion of coursework topics, with the emphasis placed upon realising the potential of the materials chosen. The Department has high expectations of our very able students, who are pleased to set themselves high standards in an activity where brain and hand are partners, and excellence is always borne in mind. Soon they gain practical, working insight into such concepts as appropriateness of material and requisite degree of quality, and innovation and creativity vigorously stimulated. What is produced is often of fine quality, and deeply satisfying to the student who has produced it.

In the sixth form, both AS and A2 courses are offered, each comprising threes units, all of which are to some extent synoptic - as the emphasis is upon breadth, and based upon the wide-ranging concerns of product design in industry in present-day Britain. The appropriate and creative use of Information and Communication Technology becomes integral to study at this level.

Students are now in a position to take up the manifold challenges of design in a mature and sophisticated fashion. A broad-based product design course is laid before them, and having appreciated the scope of opportunities, they can specialise, calling upon the subject expertise of the whole Department. From the outset, students' work is given direction and purpose by the Department's active links with the local commercial and industrial world. Technical skills are honed; new and innovative ways of thinking are encouraged; all is properly subjected to the discipline of what will actually work, what the world actually needs!

The Department has highly-motivated and enthusiastic colleagues, who enable students to achieve academic success. Support after school is freely given, both in terms of extra tuition, and encouraging and supporting individuals who wish to take part in competitions.

The English Department

The ambitions and aims of the English Department are large and wide-ranging, in keeping with the importance and scope of the subject. We work to produce students who are precise, confident and creative in their appreciation and use of the English language. Equally, we seek to foster and promote a love of literature that may be a life-long affair of the head and heart!

Across the three Key Stages, a variety of approaches is employed, spanning the gamut from whole class didactic methods, through more open-ended group work, to individual drafting and re-drafting, with the teacher acting as personal language-mentor. Always we seek to encourage the individual pupil to take responsibility for his or her work and progress: the use of the language is essentially a matter of making personal choices from a range of possibilities - a truism which becomes a practical, working habit for our students.

At Key Stage 3, we work through a range of modules, each devised to promote a range of language activities, with a central task addressing a requirement of the National Curriculum. Thus our Scheme of Work for the Key Stage is in line with the latest National Framework for teaching English, and we are confident that all pupils are supported and challenged in their learning. Over the last three years, we have had 20-30+ pupils gain Level 8 in the Standard Assessment Test, and a consistent average Level score for the whole Year 9 group of approaching 6.5.

At Key Stage 4, (GCSE), all pupils are entered for both English Language and English Literature. The written coursework that we devise for out pupils has been praised by the Examining board for its range and qualities of intellectual stimulation, and the work that we do in speaking and listening makes this aspect of the syllabus a particular Blue Coat strength - a remarkable distinction in a boys' school. In the final year of the course, practice in doing comprehension exercises, answering questions on the course Anthology (of literary texts), and writing business letters and short descriptive pieces are activities which are systematically undertaken. It is a rare occurrence for a pupil to fail to gain at least Grade Cs in both Language and Literature, and about a third of our students usually gain a Grade A* or A. This last year (2002), we gained 100% A-C in English Language.

At Key Stage 5, we offer both AS ands A2 courses for sixth-formers, following AQA Syllabus A. Specifically, "The Whitsun Weddings," "Doctor Faustus," "Antony and Cleopatra" and McEwan's novel, "Enduring Love" are studied as AS texts; and "Othello," "The Songs of Innocence and Experience," "Brave New World," "1984" and a diverse range of poems and short prose pieces relating to the First World War as our A2 texts. Students are given a strong intellectual lead, and then are encouraged to become increasingly discerning, increasingly independent readers. They learn, in line with current tendencies in scholarship, to appreciate literature in the context of social and historical change, and within the process of understanding, and critically evaluating, literary conventions and theories. Individual tuition is offered to students who wish to enter the Advanced Extension Papers, or apply for Oxbridge entrance.

The Department promotes a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including the mounting of the annual school play and the annual poetry festival. Students are encouraged to write in both creative and journalistic modes for a range of local publications (such as the School Magazine The Squirrel, and the Merseyside News Journal, "Pressgang."). There is also a flourishing Creative Writing Club for Year 7 pupils, which awards certificates for meritorious work.

Not the least strength of the Department is its Staff, whose qualities - with fair objectivity - may be summed up as knowledge, approachability, and the possession of high expectations!

The Latin Department

At the Blue Coat School, the study of the Latin language, of Roman culture, and of aspects of classical civilization and thought constitute a traditional arena of humanising intellectual endeavour, still kept open to all who come.

The primary aims are to: develop an appropriate degree of competence in Latin; to encourage an analytical approach to language generally; to foster interest in the nature and achievements of the Classical past. To these educational ends, a variety of teaching styles is used, with the traditional, didactic approach predominating. There is an emphasis upon high academic standards - an expectation to which our students respond positively and successfully. The Department believes in humour as a prime motivator, and it is a rare lesson indeed which is not enlivened by sallies of wit - sometimes exquisite ironies, but mostly cheerful knock-about stuff which everybody enjoys!

Pupils who demonstrate linguistic potential by making good progress in English and French may opt to begin their Latin studies in Year 8. During the next two years, they learn basic Latin grammar from case usage to the subjunctive. Pupils acquire a deeper understanding of Latin and English grammar, broadening their English vocabulary as they study and appreciate the contribution that Latin has made to our language. They gain confidence in their ability to cope with an inflected language as they translate simple sentences - both from, and to, Latin. From the outset, study of the language is supplemented by study of the lives of the users of that language: specifically, pupils are offered insights into the home life of our British ancestors under the Roman influence, and into the sad but revealing fate of Pompeii.

At Key Stage 4 (GCSE), pupils receive a thorough grounding in almost all Latin grammar, including such advanced syntactical constructions as the Indirect Question, the Indirect Statement, Gerunds and Gerundives. Students then progress to study authentic Latin literature, both prose and verse. Students' confidence in the translation of unseen Latin passages goes on apace, and with that confidence and ever more sophisticated linguistic knowledge, there grows the ability to make an informed and sensitive response to a heritage of literature which is "more lasting than bronze."

In the sixth form, AQA courses at AS and A2 levels are offered. The study of original Latin literature predominates (comprising two out of three units at both Levels). Excellent habits of scholarship and intellectual discipline are acquired. The student at A2 Level will become familiar with a vocabulary of two thousand words, will arrive at a high eminence of all-round linguistic competence, and come to appreciate, with an advanced degree of sophistication, the work of several major Latin authors.

Students choosing to study Latin will reap the great benefits of being taught in small and highly motivated groups at both Key Stage 4 and the Sixth Form - and are most likely to share in the excellent examination results which are achieved year after year. At GCSE, A* is the commonest Grade, and A is the usual Grade at A2!

The Modern Foreign Languages Department

The Modern Foreign Languages Department is clear in its aims, and dedicated to their accomplishment. We seek to develop the ability of all our students to use French and Spanish for the purpose of practical communication. We seek to encourage positive attitudes to foreign language learning, and promote sympathetic engagement with the speakers of foreign language, together with interest in, and respect for, other European cultures and historical experiences. We seek to provide a thorough grounding in linguistic procedures and skills, such as may be developed and deployed by our students as they pursue their subsequent individual paths of study, work, and leisure. Finally, we are aware of playing an important role in the more general intellectual development of our students, with the emphasis we place upon rigorous close-reading of texts, the demands we make upon the extraordinary power of human memory, and our continuous insistence that the students' powers of inference and deduction should be always alert.

From Year 7 to Year 13 - on the basis of carefully chosen teaching materials, appropriate to the different stages of intellectual development of our students - we deliver an integrated programme of the cardinal activities of foreign language acquisition. They may be summarised as: reading exercises, involving understanding, drawing inferences, eliciting information, and responding in the target language; listening exercises, involving both understanding the gist, and identifying specific details; speaking exercises, requiring ever greater fluency on a carefully graduated scale, and introducing the speaker to an ever-widening variety of contexts; writing exercises, leading from brief word or phrase responses, to the ability to write coherently, grammatically, and at length in the target language.

By the end of Key Stage 3, most students are working at Levels 6-8 in National Curriculum terms, and all the requisite aspects of vocabulary and grammar will have been mastered. It is a feature of Modern Foreign Languages at the Blue Coat that each year of study is given its own academic profile, with the emphasis upon foundation skills in Year 7, acceleration through the content of the syllabus being the priority in Year 8, and the promotion of independent learning becoming the focus in Year 9. Thus, our students tend to be distinguished by a confidence that enables to read, understand, write in and respond to the target language in both formal and informal situations. They tend to have a certain "savoir faire!"

Our students who opt for French or Spanish (or both) at Key Stage 4 follow the AQA Specification Full Course G.C.S.E. The language work and knowledge is generated in exploring the four given themes: My World, Holiday Time and Travel, Work and Life-Style, and The Young Person in Society. Skills adumbrated in Key Stage 3 are solidly consolidated; rapid progress is made in terms of vocabulary, grammatical structure and everyday idioms; opportunities are given for the students to manipulate the foreign language by themselves, and so appreciate its expressive potential. Our many able students become thoroughly equipped to use the language in a variety of everyday contexts.

Both French and Spanish are offered in the sixth form at AS and A2 Levels, following the AQA G.C.E. Specification. At AS the three topics around which language knowledge and skills are further developed are: Young People Today, Aspects of Society, and People and Society. Three further units form the themes of A2 studies: Contemporary Issues, The Cultural and Social Landscape, and Yesterday and Tomorrow. The courses naturally extend the knowledge and skills that students will have acquired at G.C.S.E. - not only in terms of grammar, vocabulary and spoken fluency, but also in terms of developing an appreciation of the deeper nature of the language, a consideration which goes hand in hand with the study of social, historical, literary and cultural aspects of the countries where the target language is spoken.

Finally, the Department for its part is deeply involved in what may be termed the wider culture of Modern Foreign Languages in secondary schools. We are Initial Teacher Training Partners with both John Moores and Edge Hill Universities, and so are constantly in touch with the latest thinking in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. We regularly conduct hugely popular and educationally most rewarding school trips to France and Spain. We have a "fast track" group for our most gifted linguists in Year 9, and always employ one French and one Spanish Assistant to hone the conversational skills of our senior students.

The Music Department

The making and appreciation of music is one of the most established and vibrant traditions of the Liverpool Blue Coat, and one of the paintings in the archives shows the School Band (of circa. 1840) parading proudly in the Town Centre… To this day, we have an active orchestra, choir, and stage bands (performing every year in the Founders' Day Service in the Anglican Cathedral), the Christmas Carol Service, the Spring Concert, the Summer Recital (all taking place at the School), and the Rotary Carol Concert in the Philharmonic Hall.

In its academic work, the focus is on providing a breadth of musical experiences through music-making. Investment in computer programs has ensured that every student can move easily and naturally from imagining notes in the head to testing them on the ear. Classes will listen to music of different styles and periods; they will be involved in practical music-making; they will develop both their critical and creative skills through their own compositions.

Those who opt to study Music for GCSE will compose music in a range of different styles, and gain some insight into the theory of musical composition. They will begin to assess music using formal criteria, and play music either as a soloist, or member of an ensemble.

Music can be studied at both AS and A2 Levels, and those who choose to do so, rapidly develop their technical skills as composers, learn analytical skills in the study of famous pieces, and are given the opportunity to study a musical area of personal interest. Many choose to develop their performance skills even further.

The Department also oversees the work of peripatetic music teachers, so that any Blue Coat student who is committed to progressing with his or her instrument has the opportunity - and day-to-day encouragement - to do so.

The Physical Education Department

The philosophy of the Physical Education Department is aptly summed up in the familiar slogan, "Sport for All." We seek to promote all aspects of P.E. and active recreation, and encourage our students to develop physically, personally, socially and morally.

To these ends, all teaching and learning styles are employed (including the traditional academic, as an aspect of sixth form study). Group and independent learning are central to our work.

At Key Stage 3, we set about building upon the foundation of the previous Key Stage, and further develop our pupils' skills relating to the six areas of prescribed study: dance, gymnastics, swimming, athletics, outdoor education, and games (the last being compulsory for all). Pupils' knowledge base is considerably extended, new skills are acquired, and insight is gained into sporting tactics and decision-making.

At Key Stage 4, students begin to specialise, following their own preferences, and opting for two of the areas studied at Key Stage 3. Physical activity is clearly (and practically) related to issues of health and well-being: training, fitness, and dietary techniques are demonstrated and taught. Skill are further developed and refined, and the mental and character-building aspects of physical striving are given due emphasis. Students are introduced to the sophisticated and rewarding arts of officiating and coaching.

In the sixth form, both AS and A2 courses in Physical Education (the O.C.R. Syllabus) are offered. The three prescribed areas of study are: the Performer in a Social Setting; How the Performer Acquires Skills; How the Performer Works. At this level of study, the academic (or theoretical) and practical physical activity combine in a powerful, mutually reinforcing manner. Students learn about human anatomy and physiology, the effects of exercise, sports psychology, and a whole range of advanced sporting techniques. The social dimension involves study of women in sport, and a comparative study of sport in the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Australia is made.

The successes of the Liverpool Blue Coat School in sporting competitions have been, over recent years, many and great. It is almost unknown for Blue Coat football and basketball teams not to figure in local and regional finals - generally in the role of outright winners! Moreover, football and basketball teams have on several occasions returned triumphant with National trophies. The dedication and expertise of colleagues ensures that we have highly skilled and ambitious teams at all age levels in football, basketball, cricket and athletics, and are now building up our hockey, netball and cross-country teams to the same standard. We welcome the admission of girls into the School, and shall prove ourselves dedicated indeed to "sport for all"!

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