Media

The Team 

What is Media and why is it important? 

Media is about communication, particularly mass communication. The media creates products that are designed to entertain and inform, created for lots of people to hear, watch or read, often at roughly the same time. Whenever you are watching television, streaming films, scrolling through social media or listening to a podcast, you are consuming media. With a focus on critical analysis and creative expression, students learn to understand the impact of media on society. 

What do students learn in Media?  

GCSE Media Studies students will analyse how media products like TV programmes and music videos use images, sounds, language, and representations to create meaning. You will learn about the media industry and how the industry affects how media products are made. You will investigate media audiences, exploring who are the people who watch, read and consume the products, and considering how different people might be affected by media products differently, and why.  

Summary of curriculum content 

Link to Year 9 and 10 Media Learning Journey

Link to Year 11 Media Learning Journey

Challenge and support in Media 

Media studies requires students to think critically and develop their own opinions. Students need to use historical, social, political and cultural context to justify their thinking. There are a number of media theories that students need to study that start to explain some of the creative decisions and constructed representations. This theoretical understanding, and the ability to draw on contextual information provides rich challenge. Step by step guides for all of the products, and easy to understand videos are used to support students to know the products well.  

How is Media assessed?  

KS3 

Media Studies is not currently taught at key stage 3.  

KS4 

We follow the EDUQAS GCSE exam. 

Assessment will consist of a mixture of examinations and non-examined assessment.  

Component 1: Written examination: 1-hour 30mins, 40% of qualification  

Component 2: Written examination: 1-hour 30mins, 30% of qualification  

Component 3: Non-exam assessment: Media Production, 30% of qualification 

Learning beyond the classroom 

As students are consuming Media every day, there are opportunities to consider their learning in many social situations, There are plans to organise an enrichment trip to a national newspaper/ magazine headquarters or film studios pending. 

Where can Media lead? 

During the GCSE Media course you’ll develop and practise a range of skills which will equip you for progression to A Level study. They will also help you hugely in other areas such as Film, English, Humanities and Social Sciences. Looking further ahead, over one hundred universities offer courses in Media, Communications and Cultural Studies in the UK. An A Level qualification in Media Studies, informed by study at GCSE level, helps you to move towards these courses, as well as to those in a range of other areas.  

If university isn’t for you, there is a huge array of career opportunities in the media, and it’s an industry that is growing very quickly. If you are interested in the idea of a career in TV and film production, advertising, journalism, interactive media, and digital marketing, technical production, special effects, web design and post-production, then studying Media at GCSE level is a great place to start.  

There has never been a better time to become a Media Studies student.