At the end of year 9 Students opt to study Art and Design at GCSE level. The GCSE is a two-year course and the syllabus prepares students for the AQA Fine Art GCSE and for further study at A level and beyond. Students are timetabled for 5 hours of Art and Design a fortnight and their work is judged against four assessment objectives:  

• AO1 - Develop ideas through investigations, demonstrating critical understanding of sources. 
• AO2 - Refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes.  
• AO3 - Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions as work progresses. 
• AO4 - Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and demonstrates understanding of visual language. 

Students will work on two internally set and themed practical projects. One in Fine Art, the other in Ceramics. Studying two distinct areas within Art and Design is a strength of the school. Within these projects, students are specifically taught a range of key skills and techniques that look to expand and sharpen the subject knowledge gained at KS3.

Both areas require Students to make use of both primary and secondary research, and to investigate and evaluate the work of other artists and craft workers through the study of specialist techniques and processes.   

Students are expected to consolidate this knowledge at home with 2-3 hours of independent study a fortnight. At GCSE, homework forms part of the assessed coursework and students are required to complete research tasks, produce drawings and artist responses, develop ideas or experiment with materials linked to the chosen theme independently.

The course culminates in January of year 11 with an externally set exam paper of 7 themes set by AQA. Students choose one theme and have 8 school weeks to prepare a sketchbook and final piece for the exam. All work is marked internally and is exhibited for the external moderator who visits the school in May. 

The final grade is made up of 60% Coursework and 40% Exam work.

 

 

Click on the image below to view the GCSE Knowledge Organiser.