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Oxford Online School

Key Stage 4

🎨 Art & Design

For school aged learners, ages 14-16

Overview

Creative work thrives on feedback, so Art & Design at Oxford Online School is taught through live, tutor-led sessions on a settled two-year timetable. Class sizes average 15 students, meaning each student's developing portfolio gets sustained individual critique, with assessed checkpoints pacing the work steadily towards submission.

What Students Study

Why study Art & Design?

For visually minded students, this course is where school really speaks their language. It builds a genuine portfolio while teaching research, experimentation, reviewing and refining: a designer's way of working that employers in the creative industries recognise instantly. It suits future architects, illustrators, photographers and designers.

Course content

The course follows the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE (9-1) Art and Design specification. Students work within one specialism, developing ideas across its areas of study; we offer:

  • Fine Art - drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media and sculpture
  • Photography - documentary, studio, location and experimental imagery
  • Graphic Communication - design for communication, from illustration to layout
  • Textile Design - constructed, printed and embellished textiles

Course Details

Examinations and assessments

There are no written exams. Pearson Edexcel assesses two equally weighted components, both marked externally by the board against the same four objectives: developing ideas, refining work, recording observations and presenting outcomes.

Supervised sessions for the set assignment are arranged around each student's location in line with Pearson Edexcel's requirements, and we guide families through exactly what those conditions involve well in advance.

Physical artwork never has to travel. Students consolidate their supporting studies and final pieces onto a small set of large presentation sheets, and three-dimensional work such as sculpture or ceramics is photographed and included the same way, so neither location nor the scale of the work is a barrier. Every submission is signed off as the student's own and marked externally by Pearson.

  • Component 1 - Personal Portfolio: internally set project work, worth 50% of the qualification
  • Component 2 - Externally Set Assignment: a Pearson-set theme concluding in 10 hours of supervised work, worth 50%

Qualification

Completing the course earns the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE (9-1) in Art and Design in the chosen specialism, a recognised foundation for A Level art courses and creative study beyond.

Entry requirements

Nothing formal is required to join. No previous art training is needed either - enthusiasm and a willingness to experiment matter far more. Teaching is delivered in English, and written and annotated work is submitted in English.

Study full time or part time

Art & Design can take its place among the six subjects of the full programme, or run alone alongside another school or homeschool arrangement - useful where a current school offers no art provision.

For a quick personalised figure, try the fees calculator.

FAQs

Frequently asked questions

How an art course works online - the questions families ask.

Next steps

Take the next step towards your future

Our IGCSE programme prepares students aged 14–16 for internationally recognised qualifications and a smooth progression to Sixth Form.