junior and senior cycle

Art

The Art department in St Catherine’s cater for students from year. During that time students will undertake state exams which include Junior and Leaving Certificate.

Junior Cycle Art

Required for JC Art are three strands, Art, Craft and Design. One of these strands is undertaken in year 2 and assessed in house. The other two are undertaken in Year 3 and assessed by the S.E.C. (State Exam Commission).  Learning that occurs in these years include – Drawing, Painting, Art History and Ceramics.

Following on from that students who have undertaken the J.C. have the choice to study other subjects or continue with us in the Art Dept.

Leaving cert art

The Leaving Cert syllabus is project-based. Themes for this final project are sent to schools in January of a student’s final year, the student then has 10 weeks to complete the project, which includes working from primary sources in a workbook which is supplied by the S.E.C. From the workbook students will realise two final pieces, a painting and a craft piece which usually is ceramic. Art History is an important part of the curriculum, we usually concentrate on the Renaissance through to Impressionism. Irish Art includes studying from the Stone Age, Bronze, and Iron Ages also Medieval Metalwork, Irish Manuscripts and Crosses.

We try and follow the motto ‘Pride, Persistence, and Excellence’ which is a banner that all students see during prize giving.  We take pride in the artwork students produce because they learned skills from persistence, trial and error. We believe that these are life skills, that they will take forward as they see the great art and architecture of the world. There is no right or wrong answer in art but to have an opinion that allows discussion and debate – it is there that excellence occurs.