Art and Design: Fine Art

Students who choose to study Art and Design: Fine Art at Key Stage 4 follow the Edexcel Art and Design Fine Art course.

During the three-year course students practise a number of skills such as painting, drawing, printing, 3-D, relief work, sculpture and design alongside exploring ideas and researching themes. Teachers support learning with a personalised approach to develop the individual strengths and weaknesses of students.

Students work on three projects where they explore and investigate themes, trying to resolve problems creatively. This is all achieved with guidance and support from the teachers.

The course is assessed through:

• Personal Portfolio
  Students create a personal portfolio of work which demonstrates the knowledge, understanding and skills that they have learnt throughout the course. They will complete approximately six pieces of preparation work and one final artwork e.g. a painting, for each of the course projects as well as taking a 10-hour trial examination in Year 11. All work completed goes towards the portfolio, which is worth 60% of the student’s final grade.
• Examination
  A 10-hour examination, split over two days and based on an externally set assignment, is worth 40% of the final grade. 

Art qualifications can lead into many fields of study, such as graphics, painting, fashion, product design, architecture, teaching, web design, interior design, textiles, game design, virtual reality design etc., as well as being of general use in many other areas such as problem-solving, organisation, developing work, research and investigating and communicating. More and more employers these days are interested in a workforce with an ability to think creatively. Creativity is often asked for on application forms. An art GCSE underpins all other art forms and is required in order to study many other further creative courses such as gaming, photography, fashion, graphics, media design, visual arts, theatre, props etc.

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