The Diploma Programme Visual Arts course enables students to engage in both practical exploration and artistic production, and in independent contextual, visual and critical investigation. The course is designed to enable students to study visual arts in higher education and also welcomes those students who seek life enrichment through visual arts. Visits to art galleries and museums are seen as integral to the course with a European Study Tour usually arranged annually. Although this is not compulsory all students who have taken part have benefited enormously from the experience. Life Drawing classes take place every Wednesday between 4.30 and 6pm and there are at least three Gilbert Lloyd Art lectures each academic year which are given by eminent speakers. The expectations are that IB students attend both life drawing and lectures particularly if they are intending to apply for Foundation or degree courses. The IB course itself builds on the skills, knowledge and understanding acquired at GCSE. The emphasis for the course is on Fine Art, which incorporates specialisms in Drawing, Printmaking, Sculpture and Alternative Media although every attempt is made to realise students’ ideas beyond these areas if so required. Throughout the course students are expected to experience working with a variety of different art- making and conceptual forms. In tandem they will be looking at and analysing works by artists from differing cultural contexts, interpreting the meaning and significance of the work and making comparisons with other selected pieces and relating back to their own practice. As students begin to develop a body of work they are encouraged to think about curatorial strategies and the presentation of work to an audience, considering methods of display and to explore how meaning is communicated through exhibiting. Quality work in visual arts can be produced by students at both Higher Level (HL) and Standard Level (SL). The aims and assessment objectives are the same for visual arts students at both HL and SL. Through a variety of teaching approaches, all students are encouraged to develop their creative and critical abilities and to enhance their knowledge, appreciation and enjoyment of visual arts. The course content for HL and SL may be the same. However, due to the increased requirements for students at HL they will have the opportunity to further develop ideas and skills, and to produce a larger body of work, or work of greater depth. In order to reflect this, the assessment criteria are differentiated according to option and level.