Art & Design

AQA GCSE Art & Design (8201)

*Please note that students can opt for both Art and Design and Photography.

It is important to consider the GCSE Art & Design subjects as an option if you are interested in pursuing a career in art, craft & design, theatre design, animation, fashion, architecture, interior design, graphics, illustration and digital media eg computer game design.

This is a broad course which gives students the opportunity to explore a range of practical skills through a range of two and three dimensional processes and new media and technologies. Students can use a wide range of materials and processes in the development of their ideas, including painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, printmaking and photography, digital media  and study the work of other artists, both historical and contemporary. 

The course consists of:

Component 1: Portfolio (60% of total GCSE)

Each student selects and presents a portfolio representing their course of study. The portfolio will include both:

• A sustained project developed in response to a subject, theme, task or brief evidencing the journey from initial engagement with an idea(s) to the realisation of intentions. This will give students the opportunity to demonstrate, through an extended creative response, their ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skills and/or understanding from across their course of study.

• A selection of further work resulting from activities such as trials and experiments; skills-based workshops; mini and/or foundation projects; responses to gallery, museum or site visits; work placements; independent study and evidence of the student’s specific role in any group work undertaken. Work selected for the portfolio could include: mounted studies, sketchbooks, visual diaries, journals, design sheets, design proposals, models, maquettes, prototypes, storyboards, video, photographic or digital presentations, records of transient and site-specific installations.

Component 2: Externally set assignment (40% of total GCSE)

Students may discuss their starting points with their teacher.

Preparatory work may be presented in any suitable two or three-dimensional format such as mounted sheets, sketchbooks, journals, design proposals, models and maquettes, digital or non-digital presentations.

• Following the preparatory period, students undertake 10 hours of unaided focused study under supervision.

• All work submitted for this component will be marked as a whole. Students may produce a single outcome or a series of related outcomes when realising their intentions in the supervised time. Outcomes may be evidenced in any two-dimensional, three-dimensional, digital or non-digital format. There is no restriction on scale of work, media or materials used.

The Academy provides all art materials and basic sketchbooks, as well as cameras and tripods for students to use. It would be useful for students to buy their own SD cards and these can be purchased through the Academy.