A-Level English

Edexcel English Language & Literature has been selected as the best choice for the English A-Level. This decision was driven by the core characteristics within this course which are the quest to understand ‘voice’ and the study of texts that ask the question ‘what does it mean to cross boundaries?’. 

LSA students are encouraged to explore their own voice as a storyteller and asked to consider what qualities your own ‘voice’ might hold. This will enable them to create interesting and innovative screen content and participate in the wider world as strong and confident communicators. 

The inclusion of ‘unseen’ material on the course curriculum offers an excellent opportunity to include a wide range of rigorous, exciting and important texts from a wide-ranging English canon that reflect the multiplicity of English texts ensuring a range of authors diverse in social class, culture, ethnicity and experience can be studied. This approach to the course also helps promote the fundamental British Values that are important to our ethos and teaching. 

As part of their studies students study one whole play and we have selected ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. This choice will enable students to consider important and current issues such as societal attitudes towards gender, masculinity, race and class. They will explore the impact of Capitalism and what happens when culture, populations and viewpoints clash. For the second exam students will study texts selected under the thematic concern of ‘Crossing Boundaries’. As students of storytelling they will be invited how they will cross boundaries as storytellers and how their own creations may indeed adhere to or reject conventions within storytelling. As part of this study they will read a wide range of non-fiction that explores the idea of ‘crossing boundaries’. These boundaries are both real and imagined, physical and metaphorical, metaphysical as well as moral. We have selected two exciting set texts that will be studied in comparison ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ by Jean Rhys and ‘North’ by Seamus Heaney’. These texts, even in their diversity, offer fantastic comparisons of extremely important historical contexts and movements in literature.

EPQ

The EPQ course at LSA is about developing original, creative artefacts for contemporary platforms and audiences. LSA provides a course where you can access a strong grade in a well-respected qualification. The course will develop your understanding of TV and creative content and develop project management skills and enable you to create a product you are proud of.

The EPQ course provides opportunities to explore screen, storytelling & script passions & interests. It encourages ‘Big Thinking’ about and allows ideas to be shared/critiqued in collaborative forums. It build skills across all areas of thinking; creatively, critically & analytically, language & communication, management of self, time & resources

The course is complementary to the core FTV screen curriculum and can be used to allow students to develop an individual project beyond their pathway projects. The course promotes creativity, independence and risk-taking with ideas development and helps students produce a piece of work that they’re proud of.

GCSE ‘Take 2’

For students who did not achieve the grade 4 pass at GCSE in either English Language or Literature in Year 11, we offer intensive support in preparation for retakes. Following the AQA specification, students receive 4 hours a week of lesson time, dedicated to understanding how to approach key questions in the written exam. All students are entered for the November exam, in the run up to which we focus solely on exam practice. Between November and the January results day, we work on developing oracy and written communication, focusing on the ways in which this can advance a career in the film and TV industry. Thereafter, any students who need to be entered into the May/June exams will refocus on exam skills for the second term.

A-Level Maths

Students who enjoy maths and attain highly at GCSE have the opportunity to complete the highly well-regarded maths A-level. This builds students’ resilience, determination and problem-solving skills, and provides an excellent way to evidence these skills to employers and universities. 

We follow the Pearson Edexcel specification. Each student has a textbook, which includes numerous exam-style questions, as well as access to the outstanding UpLearn platform (which guarantees an A-A* grade for students who complete it!). 

Core Maths

Our Core Maths qualification was introduced in 2022 and is a key part of our curriculum offer. Core Maths is equivalent to half an A Level, and is completed over one year. The qualification equips LSA students with the mathematics knowledge and skills to operate effectively in the Film & TV industry, and it addresses specific skills gaps. For example, there is an identified need for more Production Accountants working on major productions, and through studying budgeting, exchange rates, lending and tax, our Core Maths students are well placed to make the step into industry as trainee Production Accountants. Core Maths students also study time management and planning techniques such as Gantt charts, which are crucial in Production Management, another rapidly growing area of the industry. Other role-specific skills include scale drawing for Art Direction students who want to be future Production Designers, and critical path analysis which is used in Animation. Advanced statistics and data analysis give a significant advantage to students who are hoping to go into Development and need to understand the trends driving audience streaming figures and the commissioning of future projects. At the heart of our approach to Core Maths, and mathematics more broadly at LSA, is a focus on problem-solving, which is the professional behaviour that our industry partners have identified as being key to success for young entrants in the industry.

GCSE ‘Take 2’

For students who did not achieve the grade 4 pass at GCSE in Year 11, we offer intensive support in preparation for retakes. Students receive 4 hours a week of lesson time, dedicated to revising key topics and practising these, with plenty of exam preparation. They have access to the 5Rs resources, gathered using research on the best approach to Take 2 GCSE maths. Most students also receive an hour of FREE additional small-group tutoring per week in Year 12, through the excellent organisation Get Further. We follow the Pearson Edexcel specification.