You will develop your practical skills using a range of media techniques and processes. It is a broad course offering the opportunity to work in two and three dimensions, including; drawing, painting, printing, constructing, and using paint, pencil, charcoal, chalk, pastel and clay. You will also be able to explore more personal themes and ideas in some depth, refining your work and ideas towards an end of year exhibition of your work. 

Topics will include: 

• “Vanitas introduction project”

• “Museum and Gallery trip inspired mini project”

•  Controlled Assignment

•  A personal study that includes sketchbooks a final piece and 3000 word essay to support the project.

• Foundation Course

• Higher Education Degree in Fine Art (Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Textiles, Printmaking), Design (Graphic, Interior, Product), Architecture, or any degree which requires some artistic or creative skills.

• Illustration                

• Interior design, printing, teaching, graphic, web and industrial design

• Freelance artist

• Make-up artist

This practical course offers a range of different units in Media all aimed at giving students a range of skills and knowledge required for successful employment in the media industry. 

Core units cover key areas such as media representations, working to a commission and pre-production techniques. 

These core units are supplemented by specialist units covering a range of practical elements including; film production, video editing and image manipulation. 

You will learn in our new Mac suite and use professional software, including Final Cut, Photoshop and Motion. You will have the opportunity to create your own media products, including films, magazines and websites. You will also have the opportunity to pitch your ideas to external organisations that require support with creating promotional materials. 

Year 12

Foundation Diploma:

• Film Production

• Media Representations

• Pre-Production Portfolio

• Responding to a Commission

Extended Diploma:

• Film Production

• Media Representations

• Pre-Production Portfolio

• Responding to a Commission

• Film Editing

• Image Manipulation Techniques

• Working in the Media Industry

Year 13

Foundation Diploma:

• Factual Production

• Media Campaigns

• Pre-Production Portfolio

Extended Diploma:

• Factual Production

• Media Campaigns

• Specialist Subject Investigation

• Digital Media Skills

• Digital Magazine Production

• Pre-Production Portfolio

• University Degree in Media 

• Film Production

• Advertising

• Journalism (Sports, Print, Broadcast, Online)

• Marketing and promotions 

• Teaching

• Design and publishing

During the course you will develop your performance skills in a variety of situations. 

• Practice technical exercises to develop your technique;

• Choose suitable repertoire for different performance situations;

• Perform as a soloist;

• Perform as part of an ensemble; 

• Planning rehearsal sessions;

• Set SMART targets and review progress regularly.

• Practice technical exercises to develop your technique;

• Perform in solo and ensemble situations;

• Compose and improvise musical ideas;

• Use I.T to record, edit and produce musical scores;

• Learn about different areas of the music industry and the opportunities available for employment.

Year 12

• Working and Developing as a Music Ensemble

• Creating Musical Material

Year 13

• Using Musical Styles

• Planning a Career in the Music Industry

• Foundation degree/first degree in music 

• Freelance or session performing 

• Freelance work as a composer or arranger

• Teaching

The BTEC Level 3 course is a fun yet challenging programme, which focuses on the development of technical performance skills, devising and appreciation of professional works.  Students will work collaboratively to produce extracts of devised and existing work, consistently reviewing their progress through a series of evaluations and progress reports. Four units of work are marked internally and sent off for sampling, the final unit is set and marked externally by the exam board. 

Examples of learning aims covered on this course are:

• Understanding the role and skills of a performer

• Developing and applying acting styles, performance skills and techniques for a live performance

• Reviewing personal development and performance

• Exploring the different approaches of practitioners

• Devising original work for a group performance

Year 12

Unit 34 - Developing Skills and Techniques for Performance

Unit 19 - Acting Styles (Acting

Unit 3 - Group Performance Workshop

Year 13

Unit 21 - Improvisation (Acting)

Unit 20 - Developing the Voice for Performance (Acting)

Unit 3 - Group Performance Workshop (resit if required)

• University Degree in Performing Arts, Dance, Drama or related subject

• Stage school Diploma:

• Dance School: London Contemporary Dance School, Laban, Royal Academy of Dance, Northern Contemporary

• Performing Arts School: Bird, Trinity College, London Theatre School, Urdang

• Apprenticeship

• Entertainer, e.g. holiday camps, cruises, hotels

• Teacher/lecturer

• Dance scientist 

• Outreach work, e.g. Dance therapist

Dance/Musical Theatre critic or publicist

Further opportunities:

• Professional workshops, e.g. RE:Bourne

• Trips to professional dance performances and professional venues 

• Extra-curricular dance classes with tutors from the Royal Academy of Dance

The course provides an overview of the different elements that make up an organisation including; how the business environment works, the resources needed to run a business or organisation, how businesses market and promote products and services, how we manage human resources to managing the financial accounts of a business enterprise.

We use various case studies based on popular businesses and brands such as Apple, Tesco and Google. Students are asked to research local organisations such as Clacton Pier and Tendring District Council, to gain an overview of how these local organisations work.

The course covers the following topics:

• Developing an interest in the understanding of the world at work

• Starting a small business

• Marketing

• Business accounting

• Managing a business event

• Legal issues

• Recruitment and selection in business

Criminology is the study of crime from a social perspective: the causes of crime, the social impact of crime, and the criminals involved in the crime. Criminologists study criminology in an attempt to better understand what motivates the criminal to act in a criminal manner. 

Students study 4 units over 2 years.  Each year there will be one unit examined by an internal controlled assessment and one externally examined by formal exam. Successful completion of the first two units will give the WJEC Level 3 Certificate in Criminology while completion of all 4 units the WJEC Level 3 Diploma in Criminology.

• Clinical psychology

• Education

• Research

• Counselling

• Neuroscience

• Sports psychology

• Criminal Justice System

Topics Include: 

• Reforming the electoral system

• Use of referendums in the UK

• Why electors vote for the parties that they do

• Why so many people do not vote in elections

• The use of Direct Action by pressure groups

• What the role of an MP should be

• Should the House of Lords be abolished?

• Is the prime minister too powerful?

• What were the main reasons for the result in the US Presidential election?

• Where does power lie in the US system of Government?

Year 12

• The English Legal System - the civil courts, including the High Court and the European Court of Justice, police powers, the criminal courts and the penal system, legal personnel including judges, barristers and solicitors as well as the role of lay people such as magistrates and jurors.

• Sources of Law - the different sources of law, including the doctrine of precedent, Acts of Parliament, European Union law and law reform,and how the law develops and changes over time.

Year 13

• Criminal Law - the general principles of criminal liability, including causation, intention and recklessness, specific offences including the principles of murder and manslaughter, non-fatal offences against the person and property offences such as theft, burglary and criminal damage. You will also study specific and general defences such as provocation, insanity, intoxication and duress.

• Criminal Law Special Study - special study of a theme specified by the examination board.

This course builds on the knowledge and skills that you acquired during your GCSE.  It will increase your understanding of familiar ideas and introduce you to new concepts and techniques.  You will apply mathematical ideas in the context of statistics and mechanics.

The Mathematics A-Level involves 3 exams that need to be completed for the A2 exam. The three exams are all 2 hours long, with Papers 1 and 2 focussing on Pure Mathematics and Paper 3 focussing on applied mathematics split equally between statistics and mechanics. 

If you choose to study AS Mathematics you will take 2 exam papers where Paper 1 is 2 hours long and focusses on Pure Mathematics, and Paper 2 is 1 hour long and split between statistics and mechanics. 

In addition to A-level Maths, all students will be able to access GCSE Maths if they have not yet achieved a Grade 4. 

The course covers a wide range of sport and leisure related topics. 

Students will learn about how sport has been developed and implemented across various organisations and official bodies. 

Students will also develop their coaching and leadership skills and in turn , this course will further their knowledge of health and fitness and employment in the sports industry. 

Year 12

• Unit 1: Anatomy and Physiology

• Unit 25: Rules, Regulations and Officiating in Sport 

• Unit 7: Practical Sports Performance

• Unit 4: Sports Leadership

• Unit 8: Coaching for Performance

• Unit 5: Application of Fitness Testing

• Unit 2: Fitness Training and Programming for  Health, Sport and Well-being 

• Unit 3: Professional Development in the Sports Industry

Year 13

• Unit 19: Development and Provision of Sport and Physical Activity

• Unit 10: Sports Event Organisation

• Unit 9: Research Methods in Sport

• Unit 23: Skill Acquisition in Sport

• Unit 22: Investigating Business in Sport and the Active Leisure Industry

• Unit 6: Sports Psychology

• University to study sport based courses, PE teaching and sport psychology

• Fitness training and personal training

• Sports coaching

• Leisure centre employment

• Apprenticeship in sport

• Nutritionist

• Officiating

• Working for primary care trust and exercise referral programmes

This course enables the learner to gain a variety of skills, knowledge and  understanding to leave CCA with a qualification that gives them license to practice in the early years sector. 

This is a coursework based qualification where high expectations and dedication is needed. 

For this T Level qualification there is a compulsory 750 work placement hours. 

Industry placements are intended to provide students with the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for skilled employment in their chosen occupation. 

Core component content:

1. Wider context

2. Supporting education 

3. Safeguarding, health and safety and wellbeing

4. Behaviour

5. Parents, families and carers

6. Working with others

7. Child development

8. Observation and assessment

9. Reflective practice

10. Equality and diversity 

11. Special educational needs and disability 

12. English as an additional language 

Early Years Educator specialism component content:

1. Support and promote children’s play, development and early education 

2. Develop relationships with children to facilitate their development

3. Plan, provide and review care, play and educational opportunities to enable children to progress. 

4. Safeguard and promote health, safety and wellbeing of children. 

5. Work in partnership with colleagues, parents, carers and either professionals to support children’s development. 

Health and Social Care provides an insight into the care of various population groups. 

Students will need to understand the laws and legislations required to keep premises safe as well as policies involving equal rights and opportunities. 

Students will learn communication skills essential for any health or social care profession. 

For this BTEC qualification there is a compulsory 100 work placement hours. Industry placements are intended to provide students with the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for skilled employment in their chosen occupation. 

Foundation Diploma - equivalent to 1.5  A-Levels

• Unit 1 - Human Lifespan Development (EXAM)

• Unit 2 - Working in Health and Social Care (EXAM)

• Unit 5 - Meeting Individual Care and Support Needs

• Unit 6 - Work Experience in Health and Social Care

• Unit 7 - Principles of Safe Practice in Health and Social Care 

• Unit 11 - Psychological Perspectives 

This A-level will enable students to develop essential knowledge and understanding of different areas of biology, how they relate to each other and, via biology, develop an understanding of how science works.  

Through increased exposure to various advanced aspects and applications of the study of biology, students will raise their level of interest and enthusiasm for the subject.

Year 12

• Biological molecules

• Cells

• Exchange and transport

• Biodiversity

Year 13

• Biodiversity

• Energy transfers in and between organisms

• Organisms respond to changes in their internal and external environment

• Genetics, populations and evolution systems

• Control of gene expression

Further study at university: 

• Biology

• Environmental sciences

• Medicine

• Veterinary sciences

• Biomedical sciences

• Genetics

Careers Opportunities: 

• Marine ecologist

• Science journalism/public relations

• Education

• Nursing/health-related professions

• Animal welfare

• Environmental scientist

• Agriculture/Horticulture

• Biotechnology industries

• Pharmaceutical industries

A-Level Chemistry encourages students to develop their interest in, and enthusiasm for, chemistry. This includes developing an interest in further study and careers in chemistry.

It develops an appreciation of how society makes decisions about scientific issues and how the sciences contribute to the success of the economy and society, whilst developing essential knowledge and understanding of different areas of chemistry and how they relate to each other. 

Year 12

• Physical chemistry Including atomic structure, amount of substance, bonding, energetics, kinetics, chemical equilibrium and Le Chatelier’s principle.

• Inorganic chemistry Including periodicity, Group 2 the alkaline earth metals, Group 7(17) the halogens.

• Organic chemistry Including introduction to organic chemistry, alkanes, halogen alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, organic analysis.

Year 13

• Physical chemistry Including thermodynamics, rate equations, the equilibrium constant, electrode potentials and electrochemical cells.

• Inorganic chemistry Including properties of Period 3 elements and their oxides, transition metals, reactions of ions in aqueous solution.

• Organic chemistry Including optical isomerism, aldehydes and ketones, carboxylic acids and derivatives, aromatic chemistry, amines, polymers, amino acids, proteins and DNA, organic synthesis, NMR spectroscopy, chromatography. 

Designed to provide students with the exciting opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of psychology, allowing our students to: -

• Gain hands on experience of a range of different research methods encouraging active learning.

• Appreciate how psychological knowledge and understanding develops over time.

• Explore applications of psychology and gain an insight into how psychological theory can be applied to real world situations.

• Develop the ability to communicate effectively using appropriate language and become psychologically literate citizens.

• Health Care

• Clinical psychology

• Education

• Research

• Counselling

• Neuroscience

• Sports psychology

• Criminal Justice System

Students will develop their subject expertise by exploring key language concepts and engaging with a range of texts and discourses.  

The specification explores the study of English language both as a medium of communication and as a topic in its own right with an emphasis on the ability of students to pursue lines of enquiry, analyse texts produced by others and debate different views.

You will investigate many important language issues in society, addressing questions such as:

• How do people use language to assert power?

• Do men and women really speak differently?

• Are men and women presented differently in the media?

• How is technology bringing new words into the language and changing the way in which we communicate?

• How do children learn to speak?

• How and why has language changed from 1600s to present day?

Year 12

Topics will include: 

• Textual variations and representations

• Methods of language analysis

• Language diversity (accent, dialect, gender, ethnicity)

Year 13

Topics will include: 

• Children’s language development

• Language change (History of the English Language)

Do you like reading?  Do you enjoy discussing the books you have read and the ideas they raise?  Do you want to learn more about good writing and explore a range of authors, past and present?  This popular course will enable you to do all of these and more.

Students will be encouraged to write in critical debate about a variety of literary forms and genres.  

They are required to show personal responses and critical preferences supported by relevant terminology.  

Students will explore aspects of literary themes over time as well as texts in shared contexts. 

This A Level provides students with an excellent grounding should they wish to study English further.

Topics will include: 

Paper 1: Love through the ages

• What is assessed: poetry and one prose text, of which one must be written pre-1900, and one Shakespeare play

• How is it assessed: 3 hour closed book exam (open book in Section 3 only) worth 40% of your A Level

Paper 2: Texts in shared context

• What is assessed: Study of three texts: one prose, one poetry and one drama, of which one must be written post-2000.  Choice of two options: Option 2A World War 1 and its aftermath and Option 2B: Modern times: literature from 1945 to the present day.

• How is it assessed: 2 ½ hour open book exam worth 40% of your A Level

Non-exam assessment: Independent criteria study: texts across time

What is assessed: Comparative critical study of two texts, at least one of which must have been written pre-1900.  One extended essay (2, 500 words) and a bibliography.  

How it is assessed: one extended essay worth 20% of your A Level

• Media

• Journalism

• Publishing

• Teaching

• Advertising

• Marketing

• Public Relations

• Law

This course will suit you if you enjoy investigating, comparing arguments, discussion, independent research, working in groups and doing presentations and if you want to know ‘why’ and ‘how’ events happened.

Skills required:

Considering the importance of events in the past and present, the techniques of critical thinking and the skills necessary to analyse and solve historical problems and the ability to communicate historical arguments and conclusions clearly.

Year 12 units consist of: 

• British History: Britain 1945-1997

• European and World History: France in Revolution 1774 - 1815.

Year 13 units consist of: 

• Historical Interpretations and Investigations

• Historical Themes – Popular Culture and the Witchcraze of the

• 16th and 17th Centuries

Geography is one of the few subjects which spans both arts and sciences and can therefore offer a bridge for the scientist looking for an arts subject or vice versa. It will allow the development of an insight into many current world issues and an appreciation of the complex world that we live in. It is a multidisciplinary subject that develops a wide range of skills that are highly valued by employers. It is a subject in which candidates have experienced great success. 

The department will provide all the major texts needed as well as a variety of support material. You will be able to use Geographical Information Systems to interpret data and explore key themes and concepts. There is also a wide variety of fieldwork opportunities, including a residential field trip.

• Cartographer.

• Commercial/residential surveyor.

• Environmental consultant.

• Geographical information systems officer.

• Planning and development surveyor.

• Secondary school teacher.

• Town planner.

The methods and concepts of sociology yield powerful insights into the social processes shaping lives, experiences, problems and possibilities in the contemporary world. The ability to identify and understand these processes is valuable preparation for personal and professional participation in a changing and complex society. Sociologists understand social inequality, patterns of behaviour, forces for social change and resistance, and the workings of social systems. Sociology is an exciting discipline with expanding opportunities for a wide range of career paths.

Next Steps

• Welfare

• Housing

• Human Relations

• Industrial relations

• Marketing

• Youth work

• Community work 

• Advertising

• Journalism

• Criminal Justice System.