A Level Art & Design (Fine Art) 2025-26

Studying Fine art at ED6 will grant you access to our fantastic Art Suite; we have a large classroom filled with a multitude of supplies ready for you to get creative with and explore all your possibilities! We have a massive range of supplies form watercolours to Clay and Inks to Spray Paints. We even have a 3D Printer for some awesome Sculpture ideas!
Over your 2 years with us you will have access to this room multiple days a week to better get to grips with your artistic side and create some magnificent pieces of art! Make a portfolio you can be proud of here with us!

This course is ideal if you want to start a career in Art History, Practical Study or Public Space Exhibition work. This course is perfect for someone who wants to explore the progression of artists, techniques and creating new ideas to explore a range of materials and mediums. We offer a huge range of supplies and products to be used to create your personal portfolio and develop your skill in technique to enhance your future prospects, whether that be in industry or further education.
We will study a range of artists and their techniques and abilities, as well as the history of their chosen mediums. We will be applying this knowledge to your portfolios and using that as the core bases for your growing skills and you will create your own final outcomes showing your progression across the 2 years with large scale art pieces depicting your chosen paths end.

This course is a great starting point for anyone wanting to work in industry creating and making things to be in the public eye, it will also give you a strong starting point for going to university, preparing you for the lesson structure and teaching style you will have in further education.

Throughout the first year we will be working on your personal portfolio, we will focus on the first 2 projects that will make up a large portion of yourself representation when applying for jobs or applying for a university course.

These projects will be looking at artists techniques and working with their techniques and mediums to experiment in new ways. We will also be writing a Personal Study in which we look at the differences between artists work and how best to apply that understanding to our own work and progression.

In your second year we will finalise your portfolio and make a digital version for easier application to further education as well as write a further personal study into the creativity and application of technique within the art sector before settling on a topic for a final outcome.

There are many job possibilities after you complete your Fine Art course here with us! You can start to regard yourself as an artist, establishing your own practice and portfolio. You can enter a career in Illustrative Design, become an Art Teacher, a professional Concept Artist for films and video games or maybe a Comic Book Artist or maybe even make some outdoor installations to show off your work in the public 24/7, there are limitless pathways you can follow with qualifications in Fine Art.

Depending on your mix of subjects you could study Fine Art with Physics and Maths become an architect! Or you could use Fine Art with Maths and Computer Science to become a Game Designer!

You can also follow your art journey to university. By going to university, you will get specialism skills which develop your style and Technique to form your own special way of creating. You will
Further study into your chosen field will lead you into new Art History topics and further into the academic and creative industry eventually taking you up to a master’s degree in Fine Art.

There are also specialist courses to choose from at university such as Illustration, Animation, Graphics, Graphic Design, Comic Design, Game Design, Advertising, Fashion Design, Contemporary Photography, Commercial Photography, Textiles Design, Ceramics and many more!

Students wishing to study A Level in Fine Art need a grade 5 in GCSE English Language or Literature.

For a three A Level programme you will need to have a minimum of five 9-4 grade passes at GCSE which includes English and Mathematics.

For a four A Level programme you will need to have a minimum of six 9-4 grade passes at GCSE which includes English and Mathematics; it is expected that the majority of passes will be at 7-9 grade.

Our entry requirements are in place to support our students in achieving the qualifications they have chosen to study. In addition to the entry requirements, all students will be regularly assessed by East Durham College at an early stage in their study programme. This is to ensure that students are enrolled onto courses which suit their abilities – following assessment, there may be occasions when students are transferred to a relevant course at a higher or lower level in order to ensure they are enrolled on to the right course for them to achieve and progress.

Entry onto any course at EDC may have entry requirements in addition to exam results; this includes but is not limited to DBS checks, references, fitness to practice and at times physical requirements to be capable of achieving the practical elements of the course without assistance. Entry onto any course at East Durham College is subject to final approval from the Assistant Principal.

This course is examined by Edexcel, it is split into 3 components across the 2-year duration of the course.
In year 12 you will focus on creating a personal portfolio. This will consist of 3 projects; we create 2 in the first year alongside a personal study into an artist of your choice to better begin the Art History Path. This year ends with a progression grade based on your portfolio, personal study and development skills.

In Year 13 you will complete your 3rd project for your portfolio, alongside this we will work on another personal study to develop the skills needed for in depth art research. At the end of the year there is an externally set Practical exam based on topics that change every year.

Edexcel allows us to develop our own work as a continuous path. We choose our themes for your portfolio from a list of interesting topics and develop your skills from these to create a timeline of your time here in both physical and digital portfolio.

September 2025

Two years, full time.