VCSE Performing Arts
VCSE Performing Arts makes heavy literacy demands: learners read and interpret a job brief and a creative brief, write a CV and cover letter, present and justify their ideas, give and take feedback, and evaluate their own work in accurate performing arts terms, with drama learners also scripting and learning lines. Numeracy is light and sits mostly on the production pathways, covering budgeting, measuring for costume and models, and scheduling rehearsals and cues, plus awareness of ticket pricing, seating capacity and funding for the Unit 1 sector test. The single biggest thing KS3 should build is the habit of reading a brief closely and then explaining, in speech and in writing, how their own work meets it.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- High
- Amount of numeracy work
- Low
- 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 Conceptual understanding
-
Budgeting, ticket pricing and funding
Costume designers in Unit 3 must show budgeting as a planning skill. Unit 1 also asks learners to be aware of grants, self-funding, tickets and pricing, and venue types and seating capacities when organising a performing arts event.
Numeracy: Financial literacy, Strategic competence, Conceptual understanding
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils cost a simple costume from a price list and check that it stays under a £20 budget.
- Year 8
- Pupils work out how much a school show would take if 120 of the 150 seats sell at £3 each, and what is left after £150 of costs.
- Year 9
- Pupils build a simple Excel budget for a school production with costume, set and licence costs, ticket income and a small grant, then change the ticket price to break even.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 3, Section 3.3.1, page 33; Unit 1, Section 1.1.4, page 15
“research, understanding stylistic context, sketching, budgeting”
Progression step 3
I can manage money, compare costs from different retailers and determine what can be bought within a given budget.
I can realise that budgeting is important.
I can use profit and loss in buying and selling calculations.
Progression step 4
I can appreciate the basic principles of budgeting, saving (including understanding compound interest) and borrowing.
I can prioritise and organise the relevant steps needed to complete the task or reach a solution.
Progression step 5
I can recognise, model and apply the underlying mathematical structures and ideas within problems, in order to formulate and solve them.
I can prioritise and organise the relevant steps needed to complete the task or reach a solution.
I can interpret answers within the context of the problem and consider whether answers, including calculator, analogue and digital displays, are sensible.
Good to know
- No marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar are mentioned. All marks sit under AO1 to AO4, and AO3 "Evaluate skills relevant to the performing arts industry." is worth 20%, all in Unit 3 (Section 3.1, page 39).
- 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).
- Unit 3 written evidence can be spoken instead, "completed as an audio or audio/visual response" (Section 3.2, page 41).
- Unit 2 allows research time before the tasks: "a further two hours can be scheduled for research prior to the completion of the assessment tasks" (Section 3.2, page 40).
- Calculator use is not stated. Section 3 says "The Assessment Pack will include all detailed information relating to assessment." (page 39).
- Each learner must introduce themselves on the recording "using a clear pace and audible volume", with name, candidate number and role (Appendix B, page 52).
Links with other qualifications
Reading a brief, evaluating against it and using subject terms overlap with GCSE Drama, GCSE Dance and GCSE Music, and costume measuring and budgeting overlap with Mathematics and Numeracy and GCSE Design and Technology.
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).