GCSE Art, Craft and Design
The Art, Craft, and Design GCSE allows students to explore creativity across disciplines like Fine Art, creative crafts, and Photography. Assessed entirely through coursework, students build a portfolio (60%) and complete an externally set project (40%) with a 10-hour final assessment. This course fosters artistic expression and creative skill development.
The qualification features a wide range of titles including art, craft and design, fine art, graphic communication, textile design, three-dimensional design and photography.
Students will complete these distinctive units of work:
- Creative Techniques Introductory Unit - Here you will learn a vast range of 2D and 3D techniques to use in Art (Year 10)
- Final Major Project of your choice (Year 11)
- Externally Set Assignment (Year 11)
All the units are marked in the same way using 4 assessment objectives summarised briefly here:
- AO1: Develop ideas through sustained investigations, demonstrating critical understanding of sources.
- AO2: Refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes.
- AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions as work progresses.
- AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and demonstrates understanding of visual language.
Assessment in Year 11
100% of the GCSE is assessed on coursework, and it is broken down into the following parts:
60% Portfolio.
Your child will complete a series of projects over the course of the entire GCSE, and these will form their portfolio. All work from Year 10 and 11 can be included, but the main bulk will be the final major project.
40% Externally set assignment.
This is a paper that comes from the exam board and will have seven different starting points for students to choose from. We receive this paper in January of Year 11 and will give to students as soon as we return after Christmas. Students will work for approximately 11 weeks on this as a new project and will then sit for a 10-hour controlled assessment over 2 days at the end of March or early April. In the controlled assessment time students will produce a final response to their externally set assignment.
Choosing Art Craft and Design GCSE can lead to a huge array of careers. Graphic design, web design, game design, interior design, or more in the art world with careers such as curation, art historian or artist. The transferable skills of creativity, resilience, problem solving, risk taking and perseverance will apply to any career, whether directly linked to the art world or not. Importantly, pursuing a subject of true creativity, craft, and thoughtfulness in the time of AI is beneficial for students' wellbeing and enjoyment.
Useful Websites
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zpcndxs/revision/2
https://www.youtube.com/c/TomQuigleyArt
https://artwithmisswilson.weebly.com/artist-research-websites.html
https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/leeds-art-gallery/
https://henry-moore.org/henry-moore-institute/
