S1 Unit 2: Recording & Sustained Study
A Level Art & Design · Semester 1 Plan · Unit 2 of 5 · ← Unit 1 | Unit 3 →
What this unit does
This is the recording / sustained-study stage of the course, working entirely under AO1 (Record). You turn the theme into a written investigation (intention, mind map, thumbnails with annotated rejections), then build one long observed study carried across two days without restarting. Everything you record becomes pages that can be read by an examiner. The unit closes with A1, the semester’s first attainment.
Dates & span
Tue 2026-09-15 → Sat 2026-10-10 (W3 → W6), split by the National Day break. This includes the make-up days on Sun 2026-09-20 and Sat 2026-10-10 (Sports Day afternoon).
Lessons
- Lesson 03: Intention and Composition Planning — written intention, mind map, ≥6 thumbnails, one composition chosen, rejections annotated.
- Lesson 04: The Sustained Study — Stage 1 page; the sustained study across a two-day run.
- Lesson 05: Recording Pages and A1 — your own photography, studies brought to one standard, recording pages sequenced; AO1 self-check; A1 sat and fed back.
Assessment
A1 is on Fri 2026-10-09 — the recording milestone (intention, Stage 1 pages, sustained study, supports), marked against AO1. It feeds the mid-term grades due Thu 2026-10-29. Check tasks inside the unit, each direct practice for A1:
- CS2 Fri 2026-09-18 (intention + mind map)
- CS3 Thu 2026-09-24 (sustained-study walked check)
- CS4 Wed 2026-09-30 (recording pages build check)
See the full register.
Key content
- Your sustained-study media are assigned to you individually, based on the W1 diagnostic.
- Use the intention drafting frame (I am investigating / because / I will record) to start, then move beyond it so the voice becomes your own.
- Before A1 you do an AO1 self-check: your own banding should land within one band of the teacher’s. Self-bandings are collected and the gap tracked.
- The holiday splits the unit: pages are built before the break and reviewed after it. Holiday homework is primary-source sketchbook recording.