Art & Design Year 12 & 13

The Personal Investigation is an extended personal coursework project that enables learners to develop personal artwork demonstrating critical and analytical understanding from a given starting point or theme.

Students will: develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations; produce visual and written research into contextual and other sources that informs the development of their practical work; explore ideas, techniques or processes appropriate to their chosen specialism(s); record observations from sources relevant to intentions; critically reviewed and refined their work as it progresses and design and create final outcomes that realise their intentions.

Student are afforded the opportunity to develop skills in a variety of media including (but not limited to): Oil Painting, Watercolours, Printing Techniques. Pastels, Digital Media, Mixed Media and Installation work,

Alongside their Personal Investigation practical portfolio students will study and research in depth the context within which their practical work sits. They will develop a critically engaged related study that helps inform and further their own practice.

The aim of the related study is to enable learners to develop their ability to communicate their knowledge and understanding of art historical movements, genres, practitioners and artworks, considering the way that these change and evolve within chronological and other frameworks. It also builds their understanding of the relationship between society and art: art historical terms, concepts and issues; methods of researching, investigating and analysing; and how works are interpreted and evaluated.

The Personal Investigation and related study equates to 60% of students overall A level marks.

Between September and January students develop personal styles, focusing on design ideas and consolidating their intentions. Students will use visual communication sensitively and thoughtfully to document their artistic journey and produce their creative and meaningful outcomes in a 15 hour ‘Trial’ Exam experience.

This project makes up 60% of students overall A Level Fine Art Mark

The Externally Set Task represents the culmination of the A Level course as it draws together all the knowledge, understanding and skills developed in the Personal Investigation. Students must present personal and meaningful responses to one of a list of externally set broad-based thematic starting points, set by OCR a paper which is released on 1^st February each year. Students have to produce a preparatory portfolio covering contextual research, observational drawing and experimentation with media, materials, techniques and ideas culminating in the creation of a final piece during a 15-hour sustained focus period under examination conditions.