Get Qualified

The Gold Arts Award encourages in-depth research of any art form or arts practice, and how this can be influenced by exploring a new art form, genre or practice.  You will develop your skills within an art form and reflect on this, through practical experience (workshops or work experience) in the creative industries. You will also plan and deliver a project to demonstrate your leadership skills.  The Gold Award is designed for ages 16 and above and carries 16 UCAS points. The Award consists of two units:

For Unit 1 Personal Arts Development – You will: 

·  Focus on your specialist art form and collaborate with someone else and their specialist art form; Involve yourselves in arts-based workshops and/or work experience; Research a professional practitioner; Research opinions around an arts issue you feel strongly about, and formulate an argument.

For Unit 2 Leadership of an Arts Project – You will: 

·  Develop your leadership and management skills by planning and co-ordinating a team, working on a focused project that is presented to an audience.  Examples can include a dance or music performance, an art, photography or design exhibition, or a video produced for charity fund-raising.

The course starts in June of your first year and will normally be completed in March of year 2.  Students will have one timetabled session per week on the programme, and you will be expected to work independently on your projects, supported by an advisor.  You will need to prepare a digital ‘portfolio’ of evidence to record your work against the assessment criteria. 

* Students do not need to have completed the Bronze or Silver Arts Award prior to this.

This qualification prepares learners for employment as a coach in sport or physical activity. Level 2 coaches are able to plan, deliver and review sport and physical activity coaching sessions, either working independently or as part of a larger coaching team. The qualification introduces learners to the practical and theoretical aspects of planning, delivering and evaluating linked and progressive coaching sessions in sport and physical activity. The qualification is directed at learners who have an interest in coaching sport and physical activity. You do not need to be a PE student or member of a sports team to participate. The course is especially useful for those who wish to become involved in coaching, and to have responsibility for the planning, delivery and evaluation of linked and progressive coaching sessions, it can also be used to develop skills around confidence, leadership and education, making it useful for those interested in teaching as a career. The qualification is recognised as the industry standard level 2 qualification for coaches by UK Coaching, the lead technical agency for the development of sports coaching in the UK. It has been aligned to the UKCC criteria and will allow progression onto a UKCC-endorsed qualification. Following successful completion of Level 2 in your first year, you could progress on to the Coaching Level 3 Sport & Physical Activity in year 2. The skills and knowledge developed through this qualification may also be used to progress to other industry-relevant qualifications in coaching sport, activity leadership, supporting PE in school sport or sports development. The course will form part of the Programme of Study for all BTEC Sport L3 students (although is not compulsory for A-Level P-E students). Students will participate in coaching sessions at a local primary school every other week, with a theory lesson at College in between.

Those who have successfully completed Level 2 in their first year can choose to progress to Level 3 in their second year. The qualification is recognised as the industry standard Level 3 qualification for the coaching sport and physical activity by UK Coaching, the lead technical agency for the development of sports coaching in the UK. It has been aligned to the UKCC criteria and will allow progression onto a UKCC- endorsed qualification. This qualification may lead to employment, paid or voluntary, as a lead coach in a sport and physical activity. Indeed, a number of our students have gone on to become paid coaches as a result of taking the Level 3 course at College. Students will participate in coaching sessions at a local primary school every week. UCAS have allocated 24 tariff points to this qualification.

Various option available – including critical risk or statistics (to be discussed further at enrolment) Level 3 Mathematical Studies (Core Maths) is a course which is intended for students who have achieved a grade 4 (or equivalent) and above at GCSE but aren’t planning on taking Mathematics at A-Level. It helps to develop students’ mathematical thinking and skills in preparation for the mathematical demands of study, work and life. The course builds on work that you have studied at GCSE. The course is quite applied in nature and seeks to teach students new concepts and techniques for solving a variety of both theoretical and “real world” problems. The course is also useful for those who may wish to study a number of degree courses with mathematical, statistical or numerate elements including politics or sociology degrees Students taking the following A-Levels will find Core Maths a beneficial 4th Course: accounting, biology, business, chemistry, computing, economics, electronics, environmental science, geography, geology, product design, psychology. However, Core Mathematics is open to any A-Level student who wishes to study the course and who has previously achieved grade 4 to 9 in GCSE Mathematics. Successful candidates gain a Level 3 qualification - which is equivalent to an A-S Level (half an A-level) at grade A to E. The qualification also carries UCAS points.

The AQA Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is a Level 3 qualification. It is awarded to students who complete an individual research project about a topic they are interested in. The outcome of the project can be a dissertation, design, performance or artefact. The EPQ gives students a chance to demonstrate project management skills and conduct independent research - impressive to universities and employers. EPQ skills briefings commence in mid-February of Year 1 and students complete their projects in Year 2. Students will be expected to work in a highly independent and self-motivated way, with a significant amount of independent work taking place outside of the classroom.

A one-year accelerated course for complete beginners in the language but who have significant interest and linguistic ability. This course is suitable for students with a proven aptitude and interest in languages and is particularly appropriate for students who have already gained a 6 or above at GCSE level in a foreign language or who have a strong alternative background in foreign language learning. This course however is not suitable for students who already have a strong background in the Spanish language.

It may be possible for some students who have not had the opportunity to study a GCSE foreign language to do this course, but it must be emphasised that a very high degree of commitment is required as grammar and vocabulary will need to be learnt on a daily basis. The course is taught in six periods per week. AS Spanish will be available in Year 2 to those students who achieve a grade 6 or better pass.

Some competitive universities require additional tests for their courses in mathematics and related areas. For other universities, success in these tests may make for a stronger application or an alternative offer in terms of required A-level grades. This class helps students prepare for these tests such as STEP, MAT and TMUA which are required for some courses at the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University of Warwick and the London School of Economics.

The music theory class is designed to help students pass Grade 5 Theory and to progress to higher grades in Theory of Music.   Students should have a good grasp of basic theory (Grade 3 standard) and be hoping to   take Grade 6, 7 or 8 practical (ABRSM).  Each element of the course is taken in a group situation and students will be expected to practise past exam papers in their own time.