The Forum Centre is an Arts Award centre.
Arts Award’s unique qualifications support children and young people to develop as artists and arts leaders.
The programme develops skills for success in 21st century life including creativity, leadership, reflective thinking and communication skills.
Young people also develop knowledge and understanding of their chosen art forms.
Arts Award is open to anyone aged 25 and under, and embraces all interests and backgrounds.
Through Arts Award young people learn to work independently, helping them to prepare for further education and employment.
Intent
The intent of Arts Award in Key Stage 4 is to offer a non-examination option subject that is flexible in delivery, allowing students to access creative pursuits as beginners or improvers, all within a supportive environment. Flexibility is available in relation to the qualification level completed, point of entry and choice of art forms. The intent therefore is to personalise each student’s ‘journey’ through their Arts Award(s) in order to best support their individual needs.
Arts Award as an option subject aims to support students in exploring more than one art form as well as developing key skills in the core assessment areas of the Arts Award framework:
Artform Knowledge & Understanding, Creativity and Communication.
Implementation
In Key Stage 4, Arts Award can be completed across four achievement levels, three of which are nationally recognised qualifications within the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). The levels are: Discover, Explore (Entry Level 3), Bronze (Level 1) and Silver (Level 2).
Students are encouraged to explore areas of the arts that interest, engage and challenge them. Most students will explore a performing art and another more classroom-based creative pursuit, such as elements of basic crafts or production arts design.
Following the Arts Award specification, students also document the development of their creative and reflective skills. Activities can include researching arts careers and further education avenues, interviewing/researching arts practitioners, sharing a creative skill with someone else and reflecting upon being an audience member for an ‘Arts Experience’. A range of communication and recording methods are supported within the Arts Award framework, further supporting individual needs and personalised journeys throughout the course.
Impact
The impact of a personalised Arts Award programme is that students are able to pursue creative journeys that prepare them for areas of potential interest within Post 16 provision, such as performing arts and design. Many students gain qualifications that contribute towards apprenticeship and college applications.
Students also complete their course having developed a range of transferable skills, including effective communication, emerging leadership skills and the ability to work responsibly both as an individual and as part of a small team.
Students develop resilience in seeing projects through to the end, and by tackling mistakes and unforeseen circumstances head-on. Students also develop some self-awareness by understanding that achievement and success can be measured in a variety of ways.
Resources
Arts Award Discover
Arts Award Explore
Bronze Arts Award
Silver Arts Award
Related Films, Books, TV programmes and Radio:
BBC iPlayer provides a wealth of arts and creative skills based documentaries and series. Examples include:
The Great British Sewing Bee
Glow Up (theatrical/media makeup series)
The Repair Shop
Talent shows such as Britain’s and America’s Got Talent display the wide range of performing arts that exist in contemporary society.
Classic films and musical films that support an appreciation of the Arts include:
Sing
Singin’ in the Rain
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat
School of Rock
Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.
An array of arts is displayed within this selection, including costume design, dance, music, script writing and animation.
Absolute and Heart radio stations have many specialist options within their online radio offerings, including decade and genre specialisms- everything from 80s pop to country!
DK provides a wide range of Arts & Culture books, with visual and written information to support a wide range of learners. Examples include:
Music- The Definitive History
Fashion- The Ultimate Body of Costume and Style
