The Vocational Faculty
Vocational education programmes have made a real difference in the lives of countless young people nationwide; they build self-confidence and leadership skills by allowing students to utilise their unique gifts and talents. — Conrad Burns
The Vocational Faculty at Peponi offers courses in Art & Design, Information & Communication Technology (ICT), Music and Physical Education. These subjects prepare pupils for specific skills and techniques leading to procedural knowledge.
The Vocational Faculty offers Art & Design, Music and ICT to the Shell (Year 9) pupils as part of their core curriculum. Physical Education is then introduced in Year 10, and all four subjects can be studied at both IGCSE and A Level.
The Art and Design Department offers pupils an opportunity to gain lifelong skills, including:
- Confidence and enthusiasm in the development of technical skills in two- and three-dimensional form and composition;
- The potential to identify and solve problems in visual and tactile forms; and
- The ability to develop ideas from initial attempts to outcomes.
Art and Design is taught in as wide a spectrum of media as possible to allow the pupil to experience many fields in this subject, so that they may find their own direction and build confidence in themselves using visual communication. Often, what cannot be said, finds an outlet in art. We aim to cover as many of these areas as possible throughout the courses: Painting and Related Media; Sculpture; Graphic Design; Ceramics; Photography; History of Art; Printmaking and Textile Design.
The department follows the Pearson Edexcel qualifications. The Lower Fifth candidates sit for GCSE Art and Design while Sixth form select Fine Art, Photography and Textiles which fall under the Art and Design syllabus at the Advanced level; they sit the linear qualification which takes two years before they take the final examination.
In keeping with the National Curriculum for England and Wales (NC), taking ICT at Key Stage 3, Shell (Year 9) is compulsory at Peponi School. Pupils in Shell (Year 9) are timetabled for one ICT lesson a fortnight and are taken through a syllabus that provides excellent grounding for the IGCSE course and future use of modern technology.
The ICT Department follows the Cambridge IGCSE Information and Communication Technology Syllabus. The syllabus contains three main components, two of which are practical and one written.
In the Sixth Form the CIE IT course is offered to pupils at Lower Sixth (AS) or Upper Sixth (A Level). The syllabus contains four main components, two of which represent the AS course and two of which represent the A2 course; there are no choices with the components.
Music is taught to all Shell (Year 9) pupils. In the Lower Fifth, pupils have the choice to study to GCSE level following the Edexcel syllabus. During the course, pupils cover three main areas: Performing, Composing and Appraising. In the Lower Sixth pupils who choose to follow the A Level course will study the CIE syllabus, which again covers Listening & Appraising, as well as practical musicianship.
It is the department’s aim to equip the pupils with basic skills in Music, complementing and building on what they have learnt previously. If pupils don’t continue to study the subject to an exam level, we hope that in the future they would have the confidence in their abilities to join a community based music group at university or as adults.
PE is not taught in Shell (Year 9), however, pupils in Lower V may choose to follow the CIE IGCSE course through to examination at the end of Upper V. The course has two components: a written exam paper worth 40% of the total and coursework worth 60% of the total.
At A Level the department follows the Edexcel syllabus; composed of four elements of assessment. Pupils either take the AS or commit to the full A Level in the Lower VI.
For additional information on each subject click on the relevant subjects below:
The faculty is extremely diverse and as such, the members do not share resources or infrastructure; each department is housed in its own specialised area of the School. In addition to offering these four courses as academic subjects, the eight teachers within the faculty are also very much part of the extra-curricular elements of the School. Art, Photography, Choir, Orchestra, String Quartet, Rock club, Robotics, Programming club and of course the entire Games programme take up a substantial part of the out-of-class facets of the School. For information on these click on
Passion and Participation.