RVHS Pathways to Success, 2025 - Art GCSE

Course Summary

This is an exciting, popular and demanding course with a reputation of consistently achieving excellent GCSE results year after year.

The GCSE Art (Art, Craft & Design) course allows students to explore their own creative ideas through a wide variety of arts materials. You will explore traditional drawing, painting, textiles, embroidery, printmaking, photography, collage, 2D relief... the skills you explore are only limited by your own imagination! You are highly encouraged to be independent and explore your own unique ideas throughout this course. Students need to have an active and creative imagination, a confidence in expressing their ideas and a willingness to explore unusual units of study and create unique responses.

Unlike other GCSE option choices, GCSE Art is mostly coursework based meaning that you will accrue marks towards your actual final GCSE grade as you go along rather than one exam at the end of Year 11 for your overall grade. In addition, as a practical based subject, there is no traditional revision to do for this course as your practical art work will evidence your skills and knowledge.

Students will be given a set theme for each project where they will initially be guided by their art teacher as a starting point for each project. However as the project progresses, you will be encouraged to develop your own ideas, seek out relevant research sources and produce your own outcomes using a variety of arts materials. Most of your work will be presented in A3 sketchbooks with a separate final piece at the end of each project.

Much of the course relies upon the motivation and organisation of students to do additional study in their own time. The art rooms are regularly open for students at lunch times and after school, where there is always a busy, lively and welcoming atmosphere.

This course is lead and taught by two highly qualified, competent specialists, Mr M Campbell (Head of Art) with over 10 years of experience in teaching Art and a wealth of experience leading Art departments and Miss J Kostic (Head of Photography) with over 10 years of experience in the arts. They are supported by the equally magnificent Mr T Day, our dedicated Art Technician.

art vid 1.mp4

Course Assessment

Component 1: Portfolio (60%)

2 main coursework projects: 'Natural Forms' and 'Human Form'. You will start your coursework at the end of Year 9 and complete the projects by Christmas of Year 11. These 2 projects combined are worth 60% of your final grade. At the end of each of these projects, you will have a 1 day PPE practical exam to create a final piece for your project.

Component 2: Externally set assignment (40%)

After the Christmas period when you are in Year 11, you will move onto your exam project based on a list of themes set by the exam board which changes every year (see an example here). This project is worth 40% of your final grade. At the end of this project, you will have a 2 day practical exam where you will create a final piece based on the plans in your sketchbook work.

Every piece of work you create during this course counts towards your final grade.

Career Pathways

How will Art fit in with my other option subjects?

Studying art and design helps to create a broad and balanced curriculum, which is an excellent foundation for whatever you want to do afterwards. The transferable skills you’ll gain, such as creativity, analysis and problem solving, complement a range of other subjects and careers.

Art and design opens the door to lots of exciting careers - try these for starters:

• Fashion design

• Graphic design

• Theatre designer

• Animator

• Video game designer

• Illustrator

• Museum curator

• Photographer

• Architecture

• Product design

• Textiles design

• Ceramics

• Advertising

• Publishing

• Interior design

• Fashion and media journalism

• Hair and make-up design

• Retail design

• Exhibition design

• Jewellery design

• Artist

• Visual media

• Teaching

If you don’t want to take your art and design studies any further, the transferable skills you gain will still be valuable. You’ll develop problem solving, creative thinking, investigation, research, communication and teamwork skills, and gain the ability to develop, refine and present ideas. Employers and universities regard all of these highly.

Did you know more people work in the creative industries than the finance industry!

The creative industries generate £84.1 billion to the United Kingdom (UK) economy each year and employ over 2.8 million people. Unlike many industries, the creative industries have continued to grow, despite the recent financial crisis.

(Source: thecreativeindustries.co.uk)

Course Summary

Course Assessment

Career Pathways

Staff Contact

Mr Campbell - Head of Art, please click here to send an email.