Arts Award (Key Stage 4)
Arts Award is a Key Stage 4 option that aims to make the arts accessible and enjoyable whilst giving students agency over their learning, opportunities to develop their creative skills, encourage leadership and prepare for the wider world.
This course is only available for Key Stage 4 students on the Y route and is designed for anyone who enjoyed Drama, Art or Music lessons in Key Stage 3 and has an interest in the arts but may struggle with the demands of GCSE content. The aim of Arts Award is for students to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in an art form of their choice by giving them agency over their own learning. This course aims to stretch and challenge talented students, but can also work well with young people with special educational needs as the content is individualised. By the end of the course, the aim is for students to have developed their ability to communicate, plan, review, create and be independent as well as showcase their talents in a variety of practical ways. They will have the opportunity to explore their options post 16, and plan for a career in the arts by visiting local colleges, universities and engaging with professionals. The course enables students to demonstrate effective communication in a range of situations, showing an ability to convey information and provide some justification for their approach, building their confidence and artistic skills along the way. Students create a personal portfolio containing evidence of their experiences. To pass unit 1 and unit 2 Arts Award, students are required to create an individual arts portfolio that demonstrates how they meet all of the following requirements: Students explore opportunities to extend their own knowledge of, and interests in drama skills through planning, implementing and reviewing a personal arts challenge. This will take the form of a devsing project where students will work in groups to create an original piece of theatre from a chosen stimulus. Students review a piece of theatre as audience members and share their thoughts and opinions with others. They find out more about career pathways by researching arts organisations. They also explore future education and training opportunities, considering potential career pathways. They reflect on what they have learnt and how this may influence their future choices. Young people work under professional supervision to develop specific leadership skills through taking the lead in planning, delivering and reviewing a Drama performance. Young people can work individually or as part of a team but each person must take responsibility for a specific leadership area throughout the arts project. Arts Award is on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) and the qualifications are regulated by Ofqual in England but it is not a GCSE qualification. Arts Award does not have as much content as a GCSE qualification but students are working and assessed at comparable standards and the qualification has value to the young people in terms of their progress and attainment. Arts Award is a portfolio-based qualification where learners create a portfolio, evidencing how they have met the criteria. The portfolio is internally assessed and then externally moderated to confirm whether the student has achieved a pass or below pass. At the end of the course, students gain a level 2 certificate in the Arts awarded by Trinity College London. Intent Statement
Curriculum
Unit 1: Arts practice and pathways
Arts Challenge
Arts Pathways
Unit 2: Arts leadership
Assessment