Creative iMedia

Digital Communications -Creative iMedia

Creative iMedia will equip students with a range of creative media skills and provide opportunities to develop, in context, desirable, transferable skills such as research, planning, and review, working with others and communicating creative concepts effectively.

Using these skills, students will ultimately be creating fit-for-purpose creative media products. Creative iMedia will also challenge all learners, including high attaining learners, by introducing them to demanding material and techniques; encouraging independence and creativity and providing tasks that engage with the most taxing aspects of the National Curriculum.

Digital Communication – Overarching Curriculum Intent (September 2023) 

RFSS Curriculum Vision Statement: 

To build an inclusive curriculum which is aspirational for all and empowers our students to make outstanding academic and personal progress.  

Digital Communication Curriculum in Context: 

As we recover from the impact of COVID-19 we have built a curriculum that both bridges the gaps in student understanding of basic digital communication tools as well as developing the skills and attributes needed to be a success long term in their computing, business and media fields. There has been a societal move away from using desktop PC’s and their associated programs and onto hand-held devices whilst the world of work in corporates such devices the traditional use of programs such as MS Office, Photoshop and Python remain the dominate methods of input and task completion. We have developed a broad curriculum that aims to meet these long-term requirements on citizens whilst enthusing and inspiring students to take up careers and interests in our subject suite. 

Curriculum Aims: 

  • Fully support students that are happy, healthy and safe in the modern world.  

  • We want students to enjoy our lessons and look forward to the next one. 

  • Empower our students to know more, remember more and be able to do more: 

  • Understand a range of programs and their features 

  • Remember more about techniques used to create outstanding projects 

  • Do more by applying the skills demonstrated in lessons to advance the quality of their work 

  • Inspire our students to strive for excellence and success throughout their lives: 

  • We want students to develop their skills like acorns, to study our subjects at University, in Apprenticeships and in their careers as they become mighty Oaks 

  • Prepare our students to be both digitally literate, aware of the environment in which their digital selves operate but also to create new content 

Our broad and balanced curriculum concentrates on developing our students’ key knowledge and skills, and enhances their understanding of the world around them.   

We do this by: 

  • Stimulating intellectual curiosity and independence to explore ideas, programs and inspiring students’ creativity 

  • Facilitating collaboration, students will share new techniques, be self-critical and supportive peers 

  • Promoting challenge for all, irrespective of starting points by scaffolding knowledge and understanding allowing students to develop their skills and maximise their potential. 

  • Enabling creativity, students have broad choices to develop their own pathway through united and interpretation of briefs.  

  • Sequencing learning to ensure logical progression, both horizontally and vertically. Content and skills are revisited across the key stages and across our suite of subjects to develop confident learners 

  • Revisiting previous learning, key vocabulary, ideas and concepts to support the transfer to long-term memory.  

Our curriculum is focused on the development of communication, character and cultural capital of each individual student, so they become:

  • Empathetic citizens who contribute positively to society in a respectful manner, who understand the power of the tools we use and the responsibility they have to use these tools correctly 

  • Reflective learners who are resilient enough to problem solve, reason, evaluate and debate as well as become critical of their outcomes to develop skills for the future. 

  • Articulate individuals who can verbalise their own thoughts, ideas and emotions. We support creativity and encourage all to express their ideas regardless of starting points. 

  • Hard-working and empathetic young people who are aware of how their learning links to real-world situations and can forge these links independently. 

Curriculum Outcome: 

As a consequence of our curriculum, students who leave RFSS will be equipped with the academic qualifications and personal qualities to progress into further education and employment. Our students will have a positive outlook and a commitment to achieving their personal best, being creative, enterprising and innovative through a love of life-long learning. 

Please view or download our ‘Sequence Overview’ document for Creative iMedia

Media RFSS Curriculum Sequencing Overview

What are they learning?

Creative iMedia & Digital Media

GCSE

The Cambridge National in Creative iMedia will encourage students to:

• Understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of digital media including factors that influence product design, use of media codes and conventions, pre-production planning techniques, legal issues and creation/publishing/distribution considerations

• Develop learning and practical skills that can be applied to real-life contexts and work situations

• Think creatively, innovatively, analytically, logically and critically

• Develop independence and confidence in using skills that would be relevant to the media industry and more widely

• Design, plan, create and review digital media products which are fit for purpose meeting both client and target audience requirements.

Students will study the following 3 units over Year 10 and Year 11:

Unit R093: Creative iMedia in the media industry (Exam at the end of Year 11)

The media industry is vast, covering both traditional and new media sectors and providing work for individual freelance creatives as well as large teams in design houses and multinational companies. Job roles frequently overlap multiple sectors, and products often need to be suitable for more than one kind of output. However, there are common aspects to all media products. Pre-production and planning are vital; saving clients time and money and enabling creatives and designers to charge appropriately for their services. Products also make use of similar media codes to convey meaning, create impact and engage audiences. In this unit you will learn about the sectors, products and job roles that form the media industry. You will learn the legal and ethical issues considered and the processes used to plan and create digital media products. You will learn how media codes are used within the creation of media products to convey meaning, create impact and engage audiences. You will learn to choose the most appropriate format and properties for different media products. Completing this unit will provide you with the basic skills for further study or a range of creative job roles within the media industry.

Unit R094: Visual identity and digital graphics (Controlled Assessment in year 10)

Identity is a vital component of any business, product or brand. A visual identity communicates values and core principles to the consumer, user or customer. It makes a brand recognisable and helps sell a product or idea to a target audience. Logos, shapes, typography, colour theory and composition are all used to generate visual identities which work across different platforms and media, and user interface and experience are key considerations in the design process. In this unit you will learn how to develop visual identities for clients. You will also learn to apply the concepts of graphic design to create original digital graphics which incorporate your visual identity to engage a target audience. Completing this unit will introduce the foundations for further study or a wide range of job roles within the media industry.

Unit R095: Characters and comics (Controlled Assessment in year 11)

Storytelling using images and characters has illustrated, commented on and enriched life from the earliest cave paintings to web comics and memes. Today’s comics frequently have a distinctive style and a diverse yet loyal target audience. Central to a comic’s appeal is the inclusion of characters which readers can engage or identify with. Whether a storyline is humorous and trivial or dark and philosophical, finding out how characters deal with events is what keeps readers entertained and engaged. In this unit you will learn to design and create original characters that convey emotion and personality. You will also learn to set your characters within stories of your own making which flow logically and engage the reader. You will also learn to use conventions of comics to tell your characters’ stories across multiple pages. Completing this unit will provide you with the basic skills for further study or a range of creative job roles within the media industry.

Roadmap

Sixth Form

Cambridge Technical Digital Media

The Cambridge Technical in Digital Media is assessed via Coursework and Exams. In Year 12 you’ll study Media audiences and producers across a range of different Media industries. You’ll have 2 opportunities to take this 2 hr examination. For your coursework you’ll create a magazine in a genre of your choice.

In Year 13 you’ll explore social media and globalisation as well as pre production skills. These skills will assessed in 2 exams, both of which you can sit twice. Finally you’ll learn scriptwriting skills and conventions for your final piece of coursework.

Roadmap

Potential Careers relating to your subject

Digital Delivery Manager / Digital Marketer / Digital Product Owner / Media Researcher / Social Media Manager / Web Developer / Web Content Editor / Web Designer / App Developer / Animator / Model Maker / Video Editor