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Charles Darwin School

Creative Media

Level 2 Creative and Media course (GCSE)

WJEC’s Level 1 / 2 qualification in Creative and Media offers students the chance to develop knowledge, skills and understanding through tasks set in realistic work-related contexts.

Students can develop their own individual interests, reflecting their educational or career aims. There is the flexibility to focus purely on one subject area, or to combine different creative pathways, such as magazine design and video production. There is a strong emphasis on developing specialist skills related to the chosen creative and media area. All these units give learners plenty of time to experiment, acquire skills and really improve, before moving on to create final products.

 

The units that we do at Charles Darwin School are:

Unit 1  Creating a Proposal in Response to a Brief- an externally assessed exam that makes up 25% of the final GCSE grade

Unit 2  Creating an Outcome in Response to a Brief- internally assessed creative production in print or audio-visual media, worth 25%.

Unit 3  Skills Development in Moving Image Production- - internally assessed creative production across a range of different video forms, worth 50% of the final grade.

 

This combination of specialist and transferable skills supports progression to further education, employment or training. An external assessment ensures an appropriately demanding qualification, whilst enabling learners to apply their creativity and research skills. The qualification is included in the performance tables in both England and Wales.

 

OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Certificate in Digital Media (AS)

OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Extended Certificate in Digital Media (A2)

 

The OCR Technicals Level 3 course is an exciting vocational qualification, full of refreshing and exciting content that’s up to date, engaging and fit for purpose. This relatively new course has been designed following extensive consultation with universities, employers and industry specialists to make sure that you will gain the right combination of knowledge, understanding and skills required for the 21st century.

With a wide range of centre assessed units with practical and wider project-
based assessment opportunities, as well as examined units on a) Media products
and audiences and; b) Pre-production and planning, this course of study offers you the chance of a focused yet diverse and challenging qualification which perfectly
complements the other subjects you take at Key Stage 5 alongside other vocational qualifications or A Levels.

We complete 3 units in year 12 that count for an AS level qualification. These units include a mandatory examined one that introduces you to a wide range analytical techniques in preparation for an externally set paper taken at the end of the academic year.

The rest of the two units in Year 12 are practical in focus although all include some research into similar products and audience tastes. Unit 21 asks you to develop a proposal for a new youth orientated television series, using a mix of research, planning and creative skills. You then have to pitch your ideas to the client, gaining feedback before developing your final proposal. This final proposal is then taken forward to the second internally assessed production unit, Unit 3 (Create a Media Product). This challenges you to make the opening sequence to the television product you have developed.

In Year 13, we continue with a further 3 units to make up the A level equivalent award. These include two internally assessed coursework units and an external examined unit focusing on pre-production and planning. The two coursework based pieces include a ‘Portfolio Unit’ that allow you to develop a Showreel celebrating your creative achievements across the course as well as an ‘Advertising Unit’ that can be in various forms, including a music video production or a film trailer.

Take this course if you are independent, creative and enjoy responsibility and active learning. It will suit anyone interested in a wide range of creative media forms.
The focus on creative production units means that you have to be an organised, focused person, willing to put in extra time after school.