BA (Hons) Carving: Woodcarving & Gilding
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Applications for 2025/26 study are now OPEN.

Please visit our Apply page for updates and full information on how to submit your application.

The BA (Hons) Carving: Woodcarving & Gilding course is suitable for applicants who can meet the entry requirements and have an appetite to develop their carving practice within an intensive studio-based teaching environment.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

All applicants have to meet the minimum entry requirements for admittance to the course, though there are three different ways of doing so:

1. Standard Educational
Applicants who have achieved, or are expected to achieve:
a) 5 GCSEs at grade 4 – 9 or equivalent; OR
b) 3 GCSEs at grade 4 – 9 or equivalent, and one or more A level(s) or equivalent qualification.
2. International educational
Applicants who have achieved, a combination of other qualifications including, though not exclusively, the International Baccalaureate or High School Diploma.

Please check UCAS guidance for the value of various International Qualifications.

3. Other experiential
Applicants who can demonstrate equivalent prior practice and professional experience. Using a process called Recognition /Accreditation of Prior Learning (R/APL), Art School Admissions Tutors consider how various work-life and (in)formal educational experiences meet the educational level of the entry requirements.

Please see our Recognition/ Accreditation of Prior Learning Policy here.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

All applicants who do not speak English as a first language are required to provide evidence of their English language skills. The Art School cannot accept any applicant who scores lower than the equivalent of Level 6.0 on the standard English language tests (SELT) which can be taken with one of the recognised providers, with a minimum of 5.5 for listening, reading, writing, and speaking.

If you do not require a Student visa and wish to take The Cambridge English Exams, your score requires to be in the range of 169–175 or higher.

SELECTION CRITERIA FOR HISTORIC CARVING 

At interview by viewing your work and your responses to questions we are seeking to determine the extent to which you can:

·           fulfil the entry requirements;
·           demonstrate commitment and motivation to the subject and the course;
·           demonstrate hand skills and technical abilities related to carving;
·           demonstrate observational and visual analysis skills;
·           gather relevant research and synthesise information to support your practice;
·           evaluate your own achievements and identify areas for development;
·           plan your own time and set achievable goals;
·           communicate your ideas visually, verbally and in writing.

We are also looking for your potential in the following areas:

·           Manual dexterity and hand-eye co-ordination;
·           ability to develop a ‘good eye’;
·           appetite and aptitude for learning at Undergraduate level;
·           an interest in the history of carving in architecture and sculpture.

THE INTERVIEW

We interview all applicants who reach our minimum entrance requirements. For further details on the interview process please consult the Course page that you are interested in. All tutors involved are trained in the fair and equitable conduct of interviews and are fully conversant in the Art School’s Admissions Policy.

We encourage you to inform us in advance if the arrangements for your interview require adjustment due to an existing condition or disability. For example if you might require more time or specific access arrangements or other support. Our aim is to ensure that all eligible applicants are given a fair opportunity to demonstrate their potential to study on the course.

INTERVIEW INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS

The interview will be relatively informal and we want you to feel comfortable and confident. To ensure fairness and to help you prepare we have agreed upon a set of key questions that all applicants for their designated course will be asked at interview and these are set out below:

Please remember that the purpose of the interview is to enable you to demonstrate, and help us to see, your potential to study on the course. You should also use your interview visit as an opportunity to get a good idea about the Art School: our values and ethos, the course, and what studying here would be like and we encourage you to ask questions and see the interview as a two-way process.

PORTFOLIO

When applying for BA Carving, you must include a link to a digital portfolio as part of your application.

For the digital portfolio, we recommend that you display 15-20 images. You should choose what you consider to be your strongest work undertaken within the last two years, representing the range of your interests and practice. We are not only interested in seeing finished work, so please include work in progress.

CONTACT US

If you’d like to find out more about Carving at the Art School, you are advised to attend an Open Day – you can book your place here.

For more information and to discuss the application process with our Admissions Team, please email admissions@cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk or call us on 020 7091 1683.

Alternatively, you can send a WhatsApp or text message to +447379 678 596 and a member of our team will get back to you. Be sure to leave your name,  contact number and email address and a brief outline of your query.

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