KEY STAGE 4
GCSE Media Studies is offered as an option to all Year 9 students, having had no previous experience of the subject. Media Studies is a course offering pupils the chance to learn about mass media forms - Film, Television, Radio, Magazines, Newspapers, Comics and Popular Music. They will learn about the history and organisation of the media institutions themselves and also about the process by which different programme, editions, songs etc. are actually made. One thing all pupils enjoy is the chance to critically analyse the media texts which interest them, using exciting new concepts and terminology, because it increases their previous understanding and enjoyment of them so much.
Improved facilities and resources have resulted in more opportunities to experiment with different media forms, whether through varied methodology, a range of analytical tasks, or the actual production of media artefacts. There are 4 groups in Year 10 and 3 in Year 11. The WJEC specification changed in September 2009 and will be implemented from September 2009 with the current Year 10 and examined summer 2011.
The GCSE examination in Media Studies is assessed through an exam paper (40%) and three pieces of controlled assessment work (60%). One must be a production piece and two are textual investigations on different media areas. Pupils are given opportunities to create controlled assessment work that reflect their own areas of media interest and specialism. There are two tiers of entry for the written paper - the Foundation Tier can award grades from C-G and the Higher Tier can award grades from A*-D.
Students patently enjoy their Media Studies work, and take great pride in creating products themselves. It is a subject which offers the less able the chance to make maximum use of their own media experience and special interests. Yet at the same time it enables the able students to make full use of their abilities through comparative analysis underpinned by appropriate concepts, using complex terminology and creating production work to a supremely high standard.
Examination results have been consistently high in recent years, and WJEC feedback has been extremely pleasing, paying particular attention to the high level of conceptual understanding and the high standard of a wide range of assessment pieces which Stanwell students have attained.
