As/A-Level Fine Art Course Booklet for Students & Parents
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
AS/A-LEVEL FINE ART COURSE BOOKLET FOR STUDENTS & PARENTS WCSF FINE ART Teaching Departments M s Crabb, Head of Department, West Coventry Academy Miss Foster Head of Department, Westwood Academy WHAT WILL I LEARN? The course is extremely successful and demanding and requires you to work practically, creatively and passionately within the many aspects of Art and Design. You will develop a strong foundation of subject knowledge and develop your practical skills within a range of traditional and digital media and techniques. You will challenge and form opinions through conducting critiques independently and within group discussion, exploring the theoretical, historical and critical foundations of the subject. You will develop skills in observation, presentation and visual communication, all of which will be of use when you attend interviews for universities. Each project should read like a visual journey from your starting point to conclusion. Along the way there should be a number of detours where an idea may have been partially developed then rejected. Each piece you produced should be numbered by you for ease of marking and so that it flows in chronological order. Where artists or designers have influenced you, or your work, this should be annotated in your sketchbook. Any advice, which is given whether you accept this or reject it, must be recorded in your annotations. Art is something that cannot be produced in isolation and the skill of accepting criticism or rejecting advice is a quality that the examiner will look for when allocating marks. WHAT ARE THE ENTRY QUALIFICATIONS? Normal entry requirements are a grade C or above at GCSE in Art and Design. Areas of study and Assessment TERM ONE SEPTEMBER TO JANUARY YEAR 12 UNI T ONE: OBSERVATI ON Students will embark on their unit 1 project producing an individual project choosing a direction based on the theme given that year. The project will be marked using objectives from the exam board. AO1 Research and Investigation, AO2 Experimentation, AO3 Recording, Analysing and Developing, AO4 Personal response. Weighting: 60 % of final AS mark UNI T TWO: Examination (10 hours) AS FI NE ART An externally set assignment. The candidate can choose one question and develop a personal, visual response to the question that they choose. Weighting: 40 % of final AS mark (THESE FIRST TWO PROJECTS WILL BE ASSESSED AND THE MARKS SENT OFF TO THE MODERATOR AROUND EASTER TO GIVE STUDENTS AN AS GRADE) UNI T 3: PERSONAL PROJECT This is similar to unit 1 except that student will develop their projects based on their own strengths and interests. Students, along with guidance from their teachers, will choose a personal theme and starting point. The project will be assessed against the same objectives as unit 1. Weighting: 60 % of final A-Level mark EXAM UNI T 4: Examination (15 hours) An externally set assignment. The candidate can choose one question and develop a personal, visual response to the question that they choose. Weighting: 40 % of final A-Level mark IS THERE ANY THING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW? It is vital that you are extremely committed to the subject. Extra time must be spent working on your projects in some of your study time, after school and at home in order to develop your own work, experiment and create a style which is individual to you. You must be prepared to take advice and criticism from staff and students alike in order to make progress. It I so important that over the summer holidays you are still pursuing your love of Art by drawing. Do lots of little observational studies to keep your skills and techniques fresh and crisp. The art department will provide you with a range of materials for all work you produce but we do ask that you purchase a quality sketchbook with quality paper. We have a selection of books available which you can purchase in your first lesson. Enquire about an Art pack from the Art department to build up your resources at home as you will be expected to be completing work out of lessons if you are to achieve your full potential. Please complete the transition assignment, as it will boost your start to the course. FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES The AS and Advanced GCE can lead to broad variety of Art and Design based courses. If you take time to think, everything we have contact with has been designed by someone with and Art and Design background. This course will give you the opportunity to have a broad range of transferable skills including problem solving, presentational and communicative skills. USEFUL WEBSITES Exam Board - www.aqa.org.uk Art 2 day – www.rt2day.co.uk Art Student Guide – www.artstudent.com Key Research Directory - www.axisweb.org The Tate Galleries – www.tate.org.uk Saatchi Online – www.saatchionline.com Warwick Arts Centre, Warwick – www.warwickartscentre.co.uk The Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry – www.theherbert.org The Ikon Gallery, Birmingham – www.ikon-gallery.co.uk Transition Assignment Complete this assignment and have it ready to share with the group during your first lesson. You could produce an ideas/mood board Power-point presentation, Word document or sketchbook. Ria Hills Jamie Salmon Choose only 1 of the following starting points. 1. Observation 2. Containment Choose a topic for your investigation and then begin to research relevant artists and contextual influences. Explore and record your ideas and thinking visually and through written notes. Develop your ideas through a collection of 5 small studies. Be creative with your composition and use of materials and techniques. Research and find an artist to link to your own work and explain why you have chosen them. Present your work, showing all of your research, influences, artists, experiments and studies you have created. Jelanie Faunce Ideas for topics apart/together architecture artefacts barriers childhood city-life close-up collections colour disguise distortion empty everyday objects fast-food figure Pichi & Avo Mike Dargas flaws/perfection fragments order/disorder text water memory outline texture windows miniature past/present/future transformation women mirror-image pattern trapped worn out narrative possessions urban-decay natural forms similarities & differences WEST COVENTRY SIXTH FORM West Coventry Academy Biology Transition Book Summer 2017 Student Name: School: This booklet has been prepared by Science staff for you to read. The idea being that this will help you be sure that you get off to the best possible start in this subject. It is very important that you read this booklet carefully over the summer. You must seriously attempt to complete the work and submit it at the start of the year to your subject teacher in the very first lesson. This will be the first real indicator of how seriously you are prepared to be in your A’ Level studies. A-Level Biology This subject is taught at: Tile Hill Wood Westwood The key staff on each site are: Mrs Jo Woods – Head of Science, Tile Hill Wood School [email protected] Mrs V Wiliams – Westwood School [email protected] Course Details Course Title: A-level Biology Exam board: OCR Exam Code: AS – HO20 A2 – H420 Exam Board web site: http://www.ocr.org.uk/ Assessment method: Biology A level is assessed by 4 units of examinations. A practical endorsement qualification can be achieved if students demonstrate competence using and applying a range of biological techniques during the two year course. Minimum requirement: Standard entry requirements of five A*-C grades including English language and mathematics (Grade B) and to have studied Higher Level science at GCSE level. You may have studied Triple Science (biology, chemistry, physics) and achieved at least Grade B or alternatively, you may have studied Core Science + Additional Science (at least 2 science GCSE’s and ahieved at least Grade B. Please note: Biology is a practical subject which is taught using a variety of methods including laboratory- based work, analytical skills, and sometimes requires students to get their hands dirty! We do dissections and field-based studies, as well as trips to Coventry and Warwick University. Students will be expected to take a full and active part in all aspects of the course. About the A Level Biology course Biologys i a popular academic course that is often linked with studying other sciences but equally is popular with students who want to continue with one science, and these often choose biology. As a subject it combines well with Humanities subjects, Arts and Sports-based A level studies, as well as with students who choose to study Health and Social Care. Biology is a wide-ranging discipline and to do well in biology. You need to be literate, numerate and articulate. In addition you need to be committed to spending as much time outside of the classroom working on your biology as you spend in the actual class. You have to put in a lot of work in Biology but if you do it is so much more enjoyable as you will achieve more in the end. AS Biology: Module 1: Development of practical skills in biology The development of practical skills is a fundamental and integral aspect of the study of any scientific subject. These skills not only enhance learners’ understanding of the subject but also serve as a suitable preparation for the demands of studying biology at a higher level. Practical skills are embedded throughout all the content of this specification. Learners will be required to develop a range of practical skills throughout their course in preparation for the written examinations Module 2: Foundations in biology All living organisms have similarities in cellular structure, biochemistry and function. An understanding of these similarities is fundamental to the study of the subject.