Art and Design (Fine Art)

Course summary

A qualification in Art at A Level will allow you to study a wide range of specialist degree courses from Fine Art and Architecture to Computer Graphics, Fashion and Textiles, Theatre Design and Industrial Design. There are also a large number of courses available that relate to the media industry and Art/ History of Art are open combined, very successfully, with other courses. The context of the A Level course is broad and flexible, giving pupils the opportunity to explore a wide range of media and techniques. Drawing is fundamental to the course and we do expect pupils to have achieved a high grade at GCSE. If they have not completed an Art GCSE course, or equivalent, we would expect to see a folder of work at the interview. The term ‘contextual awareness’ is often used in A Level teaching and this refers to developing a knowledge and critical understanding of the work of artists and designers, both historical and contemporary. Pupils are expected to visit art galleries, such as the National Gallery or Tate Modern, during the holidays to supplement organised trips in school time. We also take Art and History of Art trips to major cultural art centres, such as New York, Venice or Paris each year.