Curriculum Overview
Media Studies
Welcome to Media!
Media at Carshalton Boys is built around a simple idea: students should not just consume media — they should understand how it works, question the messages it communicates and develop the skills to create it themselves. From film and television to advertising, social media, video games, magazines and photography, media shapes how we understand the world and ourselves. We want our students to be confident, critical and creative participants in that world.
Our Media curriculum offers both Media Studies and Digital Media courses (see Digital Media information here), all combining critical analysis, theoretical understanding and practical production. Students learn to deconstruct media products, understand how audiences are targeted and represented, explore the role of ownership and industry, and apply their knowledge to the creation of their own media products. Alongside developing academic knowledge and subject-specific vocabulary, students build practical skills in areas such as photography, graphic design, video production, editing and digital content creation.
Our Curriculum
Our curriculum is ambitious by design, developing students from confident media consumers into informed analysts and creative producers. At Key Stage 3, students are introduced to the theoretical framework through a broad range of both theory and practical projects. They learn how meaning is constructed through images, sound, editing, layout, colour, typography, etc and why this is done in regards to ownership, audiences and representation. As students develop their own understanding they build on their confidence to experiment with their own ideas in application.
At Key Stage 4, students can progress to Eduqas GCSE Media Studies, developing a deeper understanding of media industries, audiences, representations and media language across a diverse range of contemporary and historical products. At Key Stage 5, we offer two different courses to expand student opportunities and pathways, OCR A Level Media Studies and OCR Cambridge Technicals Level 3 Digital Media, providing different but complementary routes into further study, university and careers within the creative and digital industries.
Across all stages, we place a strong emphasis on students being able to think critically, communicate effectively and create purposefully. We want students to leave Media with both the academic knowledge to understand the media landscape and the practical confidence to contribute to it.
Key Stage 3
Across Key Stage 3, students develop the foundations of media literacy through a combination of theoretical study and practical production. Students learn the key terminology needed to analyse media products and explore how technical and creative choices communicate meaning. Practical projects allow students to apply this knowledge through photography, graphic design, video production and digital media, developing skills that prepare them for the demands of GCSE and beyond.
Year 9
Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4, students can study Eduqas GCSE Media Studies, exploring a wide range of media forms including television, film, advertising, magazines, newspapers, music videos and online media. Students develop their ability to analyse how media products are constructed and how they communicate meaning to audiences, while also developing their own creative and practical production skills.
GCSE Media Studies – Eduqas
GCSE Media Studies introduces students to the academic study of the media and the ways in which media products are constructed, distributed and consumed. Students explore media language, representation, audiences and industries across a range of set products and media forms. The course also provides opportunities for students to apply their knowledge creatively through practical production work in their coursework assessment.
Year 10
Year 11
Key Stage 5
At Key Stage 5, OCR A Level Media Studies provides a rigorous academic route, combining media theory, critical analysis and detailed study of a wide range of contemporary and historical media products.
A-Level Media Studies
OCR A Level Media Studies develops students' ability to analyse media critically and theoretically, exploring the relationship between media products, audiences, industries and society. Students study a broad range of media forms, including television, film, advertising, magazines, music videos, video games, radio and news. The course combines detailed textual analysis with theoretical approaches and encourages students to consider how media reflects and shapes contemporary culture.
A-LEVEL
Subject Leader: Brodie Hennell - bhennell@carshaltonboys.org