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KS4: GCSE Graphic Communications

Contact: rachel.blackledge@sgla.latrust.org.uk

There are three options that students can choose from  offered by the Art Department: Fine Art, Photography and Graphic Communications.  This is a two year course with students having 3 lessons per week .

Each has the same assessment criteria  and for students to be  successful  all of the assessment areas must be addressed equally.  Students need to be able to develop ideas.  Through a range of experiments that develop skill (recording), reviewing and refining work as it progresses  and need to be able to analyse the work of other Artists, Photographers and Designers in such a way that they show understanding of the ideas and processes that underpin the work and  be able to  make links with their own.  Students are assessed regularly and targets for improvement given.

At the end of the two year course students are formally assessed on their coursework 60% of the total grade and an externally set assignment 40% of the total mark. As the confidence and skills base grows students will produce increasingly sophisticated responses. The learning Journey is recorded in the students’  sketchbook which documents the evidence of progress and understanding and will have a range of experimental pieces and analytical research of other practitioners to support the students’ own developments .

Students will have a separate sketchbook for the externally set assessment.  There will be an external moderator who will visit the school as part of the final assessment of students.

This course will build on the skills and knowledge base developed in key stage three and students will be encouraged to develop their ideas into surprising and polished responses. Outcomes will be made in response to discrete briefs which explore the ideas that underpin the theme.  Each brief will consider different aspects of the Graphic design specification: Illustration, packaging, branding and infographics.  Valuable and relevant research and analysis is key to understanding the working practices of other Graphic Designers and is therefore an important aspect of the course to do this well.  To make  this understanding stronger we aim to make Gallery Visits during the course for students to have first hand experience.  The intent of the programme of learning is to ensure that all students  develop knowledge and master a range of skills, both digital and hand crafted and understand the role of the designer.  Students are taught to build and develop  both practical and analytical skills in order that they can communicate their ideas effectively and creatively through visual means. 

There will be a range of briefs set including designing a stamp for Holocaust memorial day in January, A book cover and a label for a jar of honey for the Owl and the Pussycat.  Students will explore important issues and look at the work of Artists and Designers across time, place and culture. We therefore also develop problem solving skills, empathy, lateral thinking, risk taking and of course creativity.  Students are asked to consider their target audience and then to match to.  In this way we hope that we can broaden horizons and encourage them to step beyond familiar cultural boundaries and develop new ways of seeing and representing their world.  In essence we aim to demystify the arts and allow our students to see themselves as artist with a voice and ability to communicate their  personal responses in a personal portfolio (Unit 1).

This course should enable students to:

  • Develop their ability to communicate their ideas  with confidence and coherently  both visually and analytically 
  • Express ideas effectively 
  • Develop ideas and plans and make valuable and relevant research 
  • Develop their practical skills and control of a range of media both hand crafted and digital  
  • Develop a broad knowledge base of the work of other Graphic Designers and artists and be able to articulate their own ideas in response to the work of others.
  • Review and refine their work as it progresses and identify  specific areas for improvement. 
  • Make links with their own work and that of others – see their own work in Context with the visual arts world.
  • Create a body of work (portfolio) that evidences learning and progress.

Students will be  guided to be able to:

  • Plan and develop ideas around the concepts explored by the theme
  • Develop their practical skill base digitally using such programmes as photoshop, photopea and Illustrator that will demonstrate their understanding of layout and the effect of colour and typography on an audience.
  • Use symbolism as a tool to communicate – logo design.
  • Evoke ideas, feelings and or mood by the selection of source material: colour tone, layout, texture, type style.
  • Make in depth analysis which shows understanding of influence, ideas, process and context.

By the end of the first year of this course students have good grounding of design principles and how ideas can be developed in a range of ways and how they can express their ideas.

Assessment information

Students will complete a one day (5 hour) examination/ mock at the end of year 10.  In year 11  the externally set assessment is 10 Hours.

The following assessment areas will be addressed.

  • AO1: Develop ideas  from primary and contextual sources 
  • AO2: Refines ideas through experimentation
  • AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights through visual means 
  • AO4: Present a personal response and make connections with the work of other practitioners 

Exam Board Information

GCSE Art and Design: Graphic Communications

The course in year 11 is divided into 2 sections : Coursework [ Personal Portfolio] Unit 1 and Externally set assignment (exam) unit 2.  Students will work on a range of new briefs including designing a book jacket for Harry Potter, illustrations to a poem By Margaret Attwood Cell and the short story Spider.  Students will explore Infographics in the form of a tourist leaflet for Whitstable and will create a range of outcomes, both hand crafted and digital using such programs as photopea, photoshop and illustrator.

Students will build on and extend their skill base revisiting drawing and painting , photography, 3d packaging, typography, layout etc.  We will be making an off-site visit to Whitstable to develop resources for the work around the infographic tourist leaflet. Students will be working on location.

The teaching of coursework will end in January when the externally set exam paper is issued. This is a taught exam and students will be guided with workshops  and a customised exam paper in order to develop ideas and responses in preparation for the timed test in April or May. Students will have 10 hrs to complete their timed test.  They will need to present all supporting material in their sketchbook at the end of the examination. Students are thoroughly supported throughout this process with additional developmental days available in the Easter Holiday.

Moderation of all work both the timed test and the exam work will take place at the end of June. It is expected that students will complete any outstanding pieces of coursework in the time between the end of the exam and the external moderation date.

To facilitate student progress teachers will guide students through the ideas and as with year 11, assessment areas do not change so students will be required to have good evidence of planning and the development of ideas, an experimental approach  evidence of review and refinement  and final evaluation as well  as demonstrating a confident approach to the use of a range of media applied with care to create high quality Graphic Design responses all presented beautifully for the external examiner.

There will be a one day (5 hours) examination/ mock in November or early December of year 11.  Students will be asked to, plan, practice and prepare for the exam. The following assessment areas will be addressed . This will give the students a good insight into the format of the externally set assignment.

  • AO1 : Develop ideas  from primary and contextual sources 
  • AO2: Refines ideas through experimentation
  • AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights through visual means 
  • AO4: Present a personal response and make connections with the work of other practitioners.

Exam Board Information

GCSE Art and Design: Photography (2 PH01)

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KS5: A Level Graphic Communications

Contact: christine.britton@sgla.latrust.org.uk and karen.firmin@sgla.latrust.org.uk

There are three options that students can choose from  offered by the Art Dept. Fine Art, Photography and Graphic Communications.  This is a two year course with students having 4 lessons per week.  Each has the same assessment criteria  and for students to be  successful all of the assessment areas must be addressed equally.

The same assessment areas apply for A level as with GCSE. The expectation and the levels of achievement are higher.  Students therefore need to be able to develop ideas demonstrating higher level thinking  

Through a broad range of experiments that develop skills to a high level (recording) reviewing and refining work as it progresses and need to be able to  make in depth  analysis the work of other Artists, Photographers and Designers in such a way that they show  thorough understanding of the ideas and processes that underpin the work and be able to make good personal commentary about the work of other practitioners  that link with their own .

In all the Arts based A levels students will be required to make an  3000 word essay that explores the work of other Artists, Photographers or Designers who have explored ideas and made work that connects to the students own investigations. This will be completed In year 13  when students will be working on a self directed  pathway of learning which is facilitated by staff. Each student in year 13 will therefore be working on an individual theme.

Students are assessed regularly and targets for improvement given.  

At the end of the two year course students are formally assessed on their coursework component which is made up of practical responses and the personal study essay 60% of the total grade and an externally set assignment 40% of the total work. 

As the confidence and skills base grows students will produce increasingly sophisticated responses and by year 13 it is expected that a truly personal approach will be seen in the work of every student.. The learning Journey is recorded in the students’ sketchbook which documents the evidence of progress and understanding and will have a range of experimental pieces and analytical research of other practitioners to support the students’ own developments.

Students will have a separate sketchbook for the externally set assignment.

There will be an external moderator who will visit the school as part of the final assessment of students’ work.  Students will mount and present their work in an exhibition for the moderator to see.

In the  first year of the A level Graphic Communication course is designed to develop  a wider range of skills both Digital using Photoshop, photopea and Illustrator and handcrafted using traditional means of drawing. Students will learn Design Principles and apply these in work which addresses the different aspects of Graphic Design: Illustration, branding, packaging, infographics.  They will learn or revisit Typography and the impact of colour and space as communication  tools.  Photographic recording is used extensively to help develop responses. Alongside all the practical experiments that are designed to generate ideas students will learn how to make in depth analysis of the work of other practitioners that demonstrates a real understanding of the working practices of others and will help to enrich the students’ own responses. The course for  Yr 12 is very structured, with a lot of teacher input and a group foci. There are lots of short focused practical tasks to aid in this process.

The theme for year 12 is POP. Students will explore the ideas that underpin the theme. The emotive nature of the word and how this can be expressed visually . They will develop an understanding of the impact of a ‘pop’ of colour on an audience.  They will lat layout and see how the designer moves the viewer around the work.  During year 12 students will develop a good understanding of packaging, branding and layout and develop a good knowledge of the way other Graphic designers approach their briefs.  The aim is that by the end of year 12 students are confident in the handling of a range of media and are proficient in their use of the media and process. They will learn to plan and develop responses to the theme and make analysis rather than description, when exploring the work of others. By the end of the first year we aim that knowledge has become understanding. 

This course should enable students to:

  • Develop their ability to communicate their ideas with confidence and coherently both visually and analytically demonstrating high level thinking skills 
  • Express ideas effectively in a range of media 
  • Develop strong ideas and plans and make in depth valuable and relevant research
  • Develop their practical skills to a high level and control of a range of media (digital and hand crafted)
  • Develop a broad knowledge base of the work of other practitioners and be able to articulate their own ideas, construct coherent arguments and develop conclusions in response to the work of others.
  • Review and refine their work as it progresses and identify specific areas for improvement.
  • Make connections with their own work and that of others – see their own work in context with the visual arts world and use their growing knowledge to enrich and enhance their own.
  • Create a large body of work (portfolio) that evidences learning and progress.

Students will be guided to be able to:

  • Plan and develop  ideas  around the concepts explored by the theme
  • Develop their  practical skill base with a range of media and process exploring the formal elements of Art and design with the focus on layout, typography colour and space and the effect on the audience.
  • Explore the idea that visual imagery: colour, mark, composition and layout  can be used to communicate ideas, mood and feeling and sell a product or event.
  • Make in depth analysis  which shows understanding of influence, ideas, process and context and form coherent personal arguments.

By the end of the first year of this course students will have had the experience of  a range of media and process and  will have been introduced to the work of others through research visits to the National Gallery and Tate Modern.They should be able to develop ideas in a range of ways to express their ideas .

Assessment Information

Students will complete a two-day (10 hours) examination/ mock at the end of year 12.  In year 13 the externally set assignment is 15 Hours.  Students will be assessed on the following assessment areas.

  • AO1: Develop ideas from primary and contextual sources 
  • AO2: Refines ideas through experimentation
  • AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights through visual means 
  • AO4: Present a personal response and make connections with the work of other practitioners.

Each assessment area has the same weighting.

Exam Board Information

A Level Art and Design: Graphic Communications (9 GC1)

The Focus for the development of work in year 13 shifts  from the teacher to the student. All students will develop their own pathway of learning. They will  develop a theme and explore the ideas that connect to it and make analysis of the work of other practitioners whose work  has a connection to the theme.  A range of different briefs will be presented and each student will customise the brief to their theme .  They will make a series of response portfolio in response to their own theme: Magazine cover, perfume packaging, illustration to a poem , poster design, leaflet design  to cover the different aspects of the Graphic design course.  In their responses they will be applying all the skills  and knowledge  that have developed in the first year of their course. The teacher will guide and suggest different directions for the students to follow.  Alongside their practical responses and the accompanying research students will begin their personal study essay.  It is expected that this will be a critical essay that explores the ideas  and meaning ,  working practices and processes and context of the Designers they are investigating. 

This personal study is assessed separately. It is important and can have a significant effect on the final grade.

The personal study is assessed on the students ability to:

  • Develop ideas
  • Explore the work of other practitioners content context, mood process influence
  • Record  own responses and make constructive arguments 
  • Present a conclusion or personal response. 

The personal study is weighted as 12% of the total mark. 

The  practical coursework focus will finish in January when the externally set assignment (component 2) is issued by the exam board. The focus for students will then be their response to the given theme.  This is a taught exam and therefore students will be guided with  a customised exam paper and workshops in order that they develop ideas and their best response. Students will have a separate exam sketchbook for the exam.

Students will be  guided to be able  to:

  • Plan and develop  ideas  around the concepts explored by the  theme.
  • Develop their practical skill base with a range of media and process exploring the formal elements of art and design with the focus on observation and the rending of form, depth and space.
  • Layout and the effect of colour and typography on an audience. 
  • Explore the idea that visual imagery: colour, mark, composition and layout  can be used to communicate mood and feeling to an audience.
  • Make in depth analysis  which shows understanding of influence, ideas, process and context and form coherent personal arguments.

By the end of the first year of this course students will have had the experience of  a range of media and process and will have been introduced to the work of others through research, visits to galleries which should then enable them to develop ideas in a range of ways to express their ideas.

Assessment Information

Students will complete a two-day (10 hours) examination/ mock at the end of year 12.  In year 13 the externally set assignment is 15 Hours.  Students will be assessed on the following assessment areas.

  • AO1: Develop ideas  from primary and contextual sources 
  • AO2: Refines ideas through experimentation
  • AO3: Record ideas , observations  and insights through visual means 
  • AO4: Present a personal response and make connections with the work of other practitioners.

Each assessment area has the same weighting of 18 with a total mark of 72.  This is combined with the Personal Study mark 18 to give a total mark of 90.

There will be a mock examination in November/ December of year 13 where students will have the opportunity to experience the long examination time, develop the work for their theme and make an addition coursework piece for component 1.

Exam Board Information

A Level Art and Design: Graphic Communications (9 GC1)