Introduction
Art gives our students a chance to express their imagination, intellect, empathy and courage in a tangible way. We aim to give them a balance between experiencing, making and understanding art and design, with emphasis also on its history and appreciation.
We offer a broad range of techniques from painting and drawing to ceramics, textiles, graphic design and photography. Through project work we give students a wide variety of creative experiences that appeal to a broad range of ability levels and styles, and they get full scope to explore their ideas, techniques, media and skills.
Pupils make and present artworks which explore themes, issues and ideas. They will explore design elements and principles such as line, colour, shape, form and texture.
This means that their artistic creativity becomes linked with competence and enterprise and they become confident in their work.
GCSE Art and Design
This CCEA Art and Design course gives you opportunities to actively engage in the creative process of art, craft and design. You will develop knowledge, understanding and skills through your practical exploratory work and the research of others artists, designers and craft workers work from a range of cultural backgrounds. You will learn visual literacy and communication skills to express yourself creatively in both two and three dimensional media. There will be a focus on drawing as it is fundamental to the creative process in all art, craft and design disciplines.
Students opting for this subject must have achieved a B standard in Year 10 Art and Design, good observational drawing skills are important. This GCSE is coursework based and requires sustained commitment, motivation and effective time management across the two years of the course to complete the portfolio of work required.
What equipment do I need and how much will I have to spend on materials?
You will need an A3 Art folder, drawing pencils, paint brushes and two sketchbooks. These can be purchased from the Art dept at a discounted rate. We will provide all paper, card, watercolour, gouache and acrylic paint, soft and oil pastels, drawing and printing ink, printing plates including polystyrene, lino and Intaglio, cotton, silk and assorted fabrics, felt, fleece, felting needles, threads, fabric dye, clay, glaze, oxides, wire, fixatives, adhesives and all other mediums that are relevant to the course. To cover the cost of the aforementioned materials and associated equipment costs each candidate is required to pay £30 per year of the course.
GCSE Specification
This is a CCEA course. The detailed specification can be found in the CCEA Website.
Component 1
Part A Exploratory Portfolio – Internally set and assessed and externally moderated
Part B Investigating the Creative and Cultural Industries – Internally set from CCEA tasks and assessed and externally moderated
Component 2:
Externally Set and internally assessed from CCEA stimulus paper – externally moderated
Examination Summary
Component 1 60% (Part A 25% Part B 35%)
Component 2 40% (Final Outcome completed during 10 hour examination)
Career Pathways
In recent years, our students have gone on to study a wide range of creative subjects at degree level including: Architecture, Games Design, Set Design, Animation, Graphic Design, Illustration, Product Design, Fashion Design, Textile Design, Costume Design, Fine Art Painting and Printmaking, Intermedia Art, Photography, History of Art and Teaching,
Further information and case studies on careers in the creative industries can be accessed at https://www.studentartguide.com/articles/art-careers-list.
Transferable Skills
- ability to develop individual ideas and collaborate with others as part of a creative team
- strong observational, research and analytical skills
- creative problem solving
- the ability to communicate ideas, visually, orally and in writing
- resilience and the ability to learn from criticism and be objective about your work
- an openness to new influences and concepts
- a focused and motivated approach to work.