Art & Design

Art & Design – A-Level Qualification

Examining Body:

AQA

Entry Criteria:

Ideally Grade 5 GCSE Art

Course Leader:

Ms B White

Why? :

Art and Design is an exciting and stimulating subject that encourages creative self-expression through exploring a wide range of individual solutions to given problems. Students should be committed to the subject, happy to be both supported and challenged. This course provides a sound basis for Higher Education including Foundation Art Courses, Higher Education HND, BA courses or any career within the art field. Students will have the chance to specialise in their area of interests as well as undertaking a range of work in a wide variety of media. Those who are particularly interested in a specific area of Art and Design, such as graphics or fashion, are able to explore and develop this in their project work

Course Structure:

Component 1 - Personal Investigation At the beginning of the first year students are provided with a taught, structured course introducing them to new materials/ techniques and different approaches to the subject. Great emphasis is put upon developing the creative and expressive content of students’ artwork. Students are encouraged to use sketchbooks, in addition to producing larger scale work, to underpin their projects, and are expected to show the ability to analyse and evaluate their work and the work of other artists. Students’ work will contain observational studies and ideas developing from contextual material, as well as work relating to gallery visits. At the end of the first year students will work on a project based on a personal investigation of their choice where they respond to an idea, issue, concept or theme of their choosing and produce a body of work meeting all four assessment objectives. This will include an essay of 1,000 to 3,000 words reflecting their ability to analyse different artists’ work. Component 1 is worth 60% of the qualification.

Component 2 - Externally set assignment This consists of an externally set assignment (40% of the qualification) starting at the beginning of the Spring term, which culminates in a 15 hour exam. Students will choose a theme from the exam paper and have three months to produce a project to meet all four assessment objectives, reflecting the skills they have been working on in their previous units of work.




Extended Learning:

Students are encouraged to use the Art Department in their spare time to pursue their work and the Sixth Form studio is always available. Students are expected to spend at least 2 1/2 hours a week on externally set assignments and extension of their studio work. Completion of coursework and exam work will require students to spend more time outside lessons as deadlines approach