At Key Stage four Longdean School Art department can offer you two different courses, all you need to do is decide which one suits you best.
Unendorsed GCSE in Art and Design
This course is all about having an adventurous and enquiring approach to art and design and developing the skills o express it. You will develop an understanding of past and cotemporary art and design and be able to produce art that embraces a range of ideas.
It follows on from the learning already done in school and continues to develop your skills, experimenting with lots of different media. Your research and developmental work is carried out in a sketchbook and as well as this you will have the opportunity to create large scale work that you have planned.
The course is split into two sections coursework (60% of your final mark) and an externally set exam (40% of your final mark). The coursework is split into four projects on a given theme e.g ‘Movement. These projects will involve your own research, supporting studies, development of your own ideas and all this will lead to an outcome, a final piece. The timed test paper is given eight weeks before the exam. You will be able to work with your teacher preparing ideas and carrying out research. (This exam is basically another project with a final piece carried out in exam conditions.)
BTEC First Certificate in Art and Design
This course works out to be the equivalent of two GCSE’s at grades A* to C. This course is more vocational than the GCSE and is designed to offer some training for you if you are intending to work in the Art and Design industry. You will start to build your technical skills and knowledge and start to create an excellent portfolio which will help you to progress to more advanced qualification like A-levels or BTEC level 3. There is also the added bonus of no exam!
The course is split into three units which are completed over two years.
During the first year you will learn about 2D and 3D visual communication, this involves exploring a range of media that will eventually result in you designing and making your own piece of art that meets a design brief. You will also learn about contextual references in art and design, which means that you will investigate the work of other artists and link it to your own work by understanding their contribution to art and society.
The second year is a specialist unit, ‘Graphic Design’. During this year you will learn what it is like to work as a graphic designer, using ‘Adobe Photoshop’ and other practical art techniques to respond to a design brief.
