Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Is this level of GCSE Art homework normal at secondary school?

55 replies

LolaBaby75 · 20/04/2026 08:53

My DD is doing Art GCSE for better or worse! My friend whose DD is in another school advise me not to let her choose it because of the workload. Her daughter loves drawing as a hobby and is very talented but has found it to be relentless in the workload - having to spend hours doing art homework every week. So I fully braced myself for this reality but... nothing much! There have been a total of two homeworks coming home this academic year - both of which were moodboards for artists. Is this normal? It seems all the work gets done at school or you stay after school to do it there. AQA board if it makes a difference. My DD's target grade is 5. What are your experiences.

OP posts:
Original poster
LolaBaby75 · 20/04/2026 09:15

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 20/04/2026 09:11

Doing it all in school feels like a very sensible idea, to minimise loosing it!

yes, theres that! I wonder if the grade 9 students are doing work at home but mine isn't, hence the grade 5. But if this is the case, surprised the teachers not setting homework to help encourage them? Or is it possible to get a high grade at school only?

OP posts:
sittingonabeach · 20/04/2026 09:15

@LolaBaby75 is DD Y11?

Original poster
LolaBaby75 · 20/04/2026 09:13

mondaytosunday · 20/04/2026 09:11

My DD did art gcse and A level. My recollection is that things definitely ramped up as deadlines loomed - especially the sketchbook. This counts for something like 60% of their mark and there are very specific ‘tick box’ components they need to do. I think hers was about 35-40 pages, the last few the planning of her final pieces she did in the exams. Annotating the pages is also important.
I suppose it depends how on top of the timescale the teacher is. If they are trying to schedule it out so there’s no last minute panic to fill the pages then they may indeed be putting regular deadlines in place (maybe this is the case at the other school). Also some kids like to spend a lot more time doing it.
My DD got an 8 or 9 (can’t remember) and an A* at A level. Check out YouTube - loads of kids show their gcse portfolios/sketchbooks and it’s a good comparator.

That's interesting to know to compare. Thank you. I know that the coursework is 60% too so I'm surprised that theres been so little. And a little bit concerned to be honest

OP posts:
IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 20/04/2026 09:11

Doing it all in school feels like a very sensible idea, to minimise loosing it!

mondaytosunday · 20/04/2026 09:11

My DD did art gcse and A level. My recollection is that things definitely ramped up as deadlines loomed - especially the sketchbook. This counts for something like 60% of their mark and there are very specific ‘tick box’ components they need to do. I think hers was about 35-40 pages, the last few the planning of her final pieces she did in the exams. Annotating the pages is also important.
I suppose it depends how on top of the timescale the teacher is. If they are trying to schedule it out so there’s no last minute panic to fill the pages then they may indeed be putting regular deadlines in place (maybe this is the case at the other school). Also some kids like to spend a lot more time doing it.
My DD got an 8 or 9 (can’t remember) and an A* at A level. Check out YouTube - loads of kids show their gcse portfolios/sketchbooks and it’s a good comparator.