VCSE Performing Arts
VCSE Performing Arts asks learners to show how performers and designers promote themselves through images, social media and websites, write a CV and cover letter for a job brief and research professional work, and on the music technology, sound design and lighting design pathways to create, edit, mix and programme sound and light. Unit 1 is a one-hour sector test that centres may sit on screen or on paper, and Units 2 and 3 are practical NEA tasks whose performances must be recorded and sent as digital files, with no software named anywhere in the specification. The single biggest thing KS3 should build is presenting themselves and their creative work well for an employer, in a CV and online, with a clear sense of their digital reputation.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Medium
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Introduction to the Performing Arts Industry: External sector test 1 hour, 50 marks, 20%, set and marked by WJEC, paper-based or on-screen
- Unit 2: Getting Work: Non-examination assessment 4 hours (plus up to two hours of research), 50 marks, 20%, set and marked by WJEC, tasks based on a job brief that changes each year
- Unit 3: Creative Showcase: Non-examination assessment, 60 marks, 60%, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC, choice of six creative briefs; page 5 gives 72 hours but Section 3.2 says the assessment takes 12 hours
Skills that use Problem-solving and modelling
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Programming lighting and planning cues
Lighting designers must show rigging and/or programming of equipment and adjusting focus, intensity, colours and effects, and in Unit 3 must identify equipment needs and plan cues. Appendix C lists a lighting console, either manual or programmable, so programming is possible but not required. This applies only to learners on the lighting design pathway.
DCF: Problem-solving and modelling, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils write a numbered list of lighting changes for a short scene in order, saying what each light does and the line that triggers it.
- Year 8
- Pupils plan a cue sheet in Excel for a two-minute scene with cue number, trigger line, colour and intensity, then test it with a partner calling the cues.
- Year 9
- Pupils programme five cues on the school lighting desk, test them in a run-through and fix any cue that fires in the wrong order or at the wrong level.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 2, Section 2.4.2, page 24; Unit 3, Section 3.3.2, page 33; Appendix C, page 53
“rigging and/or programming of equipment, adjusting focus”
Progression step 3
I can understand the importance of the order of statements within algorithms.
I can independently create and plan work before beginning a digital task.
Progression step 4
I can identify the different parts of an algorithm to determine their purpose.
I can detect and correct errors in algorithms.
Progression step 5
I can develop logical solutions to determine the input, outputs and processes of a program, e.g. following pseudocode or a flowchart to come to an outcome, developing a written sequence of steps that could be followed.
I can plan my digital work effectively and with increasing complexity.
Good to know
- Unit 1 can be sat on paper or on screen: "Centres may enter candidates for either a paper based or an onscreen format of the test." (Section 3.2, page 40).
- Unit 2 written work may be handwritten: "The written parts of the assessment must be submitted digitally, either as scanned handwritten responses or completed digitally." (Section 3.2, page 40).
- Recordings of assessed performances may not be cut: "All recordings must be complete and unedited." Panning and zooming are allowed (Appendix B, page 51).
- The cover carries a warning that "The UK Government has announced plans to restrict social media use by children under 16", which may affect the Unit 2 self-promotion content (cover, page 1).
- Rules on AI are not in the specification itself; it points to separate WJEC guides for "information on the use of AI" in NEA (Section 3.3, page 42).
- No software is named. Equipment is described in general terms, for example a "lighting console, either manual or programmable" for lighting design (Appendix C, page 53).
Links with other qualifications
Recording and editing sound and video overlaps with GCSE Digital Media and Film and GCSE Music, and researching practitioners and respecting copyright overlap with GCSE Drama and GCSE Dance.
Source: WJEC Level 1/Level 2 VCSE Performing Arts specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027, for award from 2029 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).