This class is designed to spark ideas and get you inspired. Sessions might start with a dynamic talk, visual presentation, or group discussion, followed by hands-on creative tasks, written work or short activities.

Here you are introduced to a diverse range of artists, designers, brands, concepts and ideas linked to different cultures, genres, and time periods. These sessions are intended to broaden your knowledge, skills and understanding of wider contexts within Art and Design and provide you with research opportunities and reference materials to support the development of your own practical skills and creative ideas. 

Art and Design workshops at CSVPA are energetic, hands-on and designed to push your creativity in new directions. You’ll experiment with a wide range of materials and processes, building strong practical and technical skills that feed directly into an exciting, original portfolio. There’s a real focus on taking creative risks, testing ideas, embracing mistakes and making unexpected discoveries along the way.

You’ll develop a broad and adaptable skill set that reflects the versatility needed in today’s creative industries. Alongside specialist workshops, you’ll also have dedicated studio time to focus on your own projects, giving you the freedom to explore your ideas and shape your individual creative voice.

These weekly sessions give you the chance to consolidate your learning, track your progress, and reflect on your creative journey. With guidance from your tutors, you will build valuable skills in managing your projects, from self-evaluation and critical thinking to improving your written communication, presentation and organisation.

You’ll develop a strong, well-documented learning journal that captures your ideas and growth. The sessions also include one-to-one tutorials, individual presentations, peer feedback and group critiques to help you grow in confidence and learn how to talk about your work like a creative professional.

All students take part in two hours of Experimental Studies each week, dynamic sessions designed to push your creativity beyond your comfort zone. You’ll experiment with a wide range of media and processes, embracing risk-taking, play and discovery as part of your creative development. The work you produce contributes directly to your unit assessments, making these sessions both exploratory and impactful.

Experimental Studies also open the door to incredible real-world opportunities. Students have exhibited their work publicly at the Cambridge Festival, collaborating with researchers, students and faculty at the University of Cambridge. Work has been showcased in inspiring venues such as St Catharine’s College, The Whipple Museum and The Museum of Zoology, giving you the chance to share your ideas with a wider audience and experience what it’s like to be part of the professional creative world.

You’ll have a dedicated session each week with your personal tutor, giving you consistent support and guidance throughout your course. In the first term, the focus is on exploring your progression options and preparing for university applications, with plenty of time for research and one-to-one support.

As you move towards your final unit, the emphasis shifts to strengthening your study skills and preparing for your Project Proposal and final major project, helping you stay focused, organised and ready to produce your best work.

This weekly class in the first term is designed to help you build a strong, professional portfolio for your university applications. You’ll learn how to use Adobe Creative Suite to present your work effectively, while developing a clear understanding of what makes a portfolio stand out. The course explores different portfolio formats and expectations, helping you tailor your work to suit specific universities and Fine Art & Photography related courses.

With guidance from specialist tutors who are experienced in their fields, you’ll receive expert advice on how to select, refine and present your work to its full potential. You’ll be supported in shaping a portfolio that reflects your individual creative voice while meeting the requirements of your chosen institutions. Your Fine Art & Photography tutor will oversee your final submission, ensuring you feel confident and fully prepared without the need for additional portfolio classes outside of CSVPA.

For international students who have an IELTS with any element 5.5 or lower, English classes are timetabled to aid progression to university. Through a variety of teaching styles, we focus on four key skills you need to pass your IELTS exam; listening, reading, writing and spoken English. This subject is linked with Art and Design, so you are better equipped with the vocabulary to analyse and reflect upon your own and others’ work.

Units 1, and 2 or 3 can only attain a Pass or Fail. All units need to be passed to gain the Foundation Diploma at the end of the year. 

Only Unit 4 will be graded Pass, Merit, Distinction or Fail. This grade will determine the grade given for the Foundation Diploma overall. To help you understand the level you are working at, submissions for Units 1 and 2 or 3 will be given a referral, satisfactory pass, good pass or excellent pass with written comments to identify specific areas of strength and weakness relating to the assessment criteria. This will help you understand the level you are working at and make progress towards the higher grades in Unit 4.  

Ongoing and Informal Assessment: 

Every week, your learning journal will be checked by your tutor and feedback given to guide learning, improvements and identify gaps to support progress. Throughout workshops and practical sessions, tutors will circulate and provide verbal feedback on work in progress. Questioning individuals and groups is an important part of assessing students’ understanding and helps tutors to modify activities to better suit the needs of individuals and the whole group. 

Self-Assessment: 

Students should use checklists issued for each project to help organisation and manage coursework for submission, ensuring that all assessment criteria are covered. Weekly written reflections will help to identify understanding and personal areas of strength and weakness and will be key to the dialogue between student and tutor. Peer reviews and group discussions will also aid self-review and provide the group with peer support and exemplars to better understand the standards. Prior to formal assessments, you will need to complete your own self-assessment against the assessment criteria. 

Formal Assessments: 

There will be a formative assessment usually halfway through each Unit. Work to date will be submitted electronically through Canvas, our online learning platform. Here the progress you have made so far will be formally assessed against the assessment objectives. Work will be given a referral if it does not yet meet the standards for pass.  All assessment criteria must receive at least a pass to attain a pass overall. Similarly, to attain a Merit or Distinction in Unit 4, all assessment criteria much reach that level. You will receive comments to identify specific areas of strength and weakness relating to the assessment criteria. Following formative assessments, improvements can be made to projects prior to the summative assessment. 

Summative Assessment:

The summative assessment at the end of a unit follows the same format as the formative assessment. Any student who receives a referral in the summative assessment will be given a week to complete the necessary work required to achieve a pass level. An individual action plan will be provided with listed evidence to submit/resubmit.