AQA Media Studies: September 2025 updates

Welcome to our Autumn 2025 newsletter

I hope you’ve all had a truly wonderful summer holiday and a well-deserved break to rest, reset, and hopefully enjoy some sunshine. As we head into this new term, I wanted to take a moment to warmly welcome you back. Whether you spent the summer travelling, creating, reading, or simply recharging at home, I hope it has given you the energy and inspiration to begin the coming months with fresh ideas and motivation.

As we step into autumn, it feels like the perfect time to embrace creativity in all its forms. This time of year often brings a renewed sense of focus and an opportunity to reimagine your classroom environment, explore new projects, and develop thoughtful lessons that capture the curiosity and imagination of your learners. I hope this term brings you fresh ideas and opportunities that’ll support both your teaching and your own creative practice, as we work together to make it a successful and inspiring few months.

This newsletter is here to support you. Inside, you’ll find a range of key resources, general updates, and important information to help guide you through the months ahead. We’ve carefully put this together to make sure it’s as useful as possible for you, offering practical guidance, reminders, and insights that can support your planning, teaching, and subject leadership this term. We hope it becomes a go-to tool to keep you connected and up to date.

As always, please remember that we’re here for you. If you ever need further support or simply want to ask a question, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re only an email or a call away, and it’s so important to us that you feel supported in your work.

Also, keep an eye out for our list of upcoming Curriculum Connect sessions. These will include exploring the summer results and looking ahead to the new academic year.

We’re looking forward to working with you over the year ahead and receiving the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment review when it’s published.

If any members of your team would like to receive subject-specific updates, they can easily sign up for AQA subject updates , so they’re always informed and part of our community.

Sandra Allan
Subject Lead for Creative Arts

myAQA

Sign up to myAQA to get quick access to resources, CPD training and events, Data Insights (our results analysis tool) and much more this autumn term. Make sure you’ve filled in your myAQA profile including your role and subject specialism so we can instantly start connecting you with the tools, training and resources most relevant to you.

Once you’re logged into your myAQA account, you can also access Centre Services.

myNetwork

Curriculum Connect: Exploring summer 2025

Join the Creative Arts team for an overview into the AQA results from the summer 2025 exam series. Uncover the latest national trends in your subject, gain insider insights from examiner reports, and discover strategies to boost success in the year ahead. Plus, we'll share a roundup of must-have resources and events you won't want to miss. These sessions are available to book now on our website.

Please note we will not be covering student responses with commentaries during these sessions, you'll have the opportunity to see those at our NEA Planning and Preparing for 2026 events. 

myResources

Find everything you need on myAQA

Make sure you’ve got the materials and guidance to create engaging and effective learning experiences. Whether it’s schemes of work, community links or teaching guides, we’ve got what you need.

To access the resources, visit the plan, teach and assess tabs on our GCSE or A-level web pages. Resources are also available on our Centre Services secure web page. 

• Data Insights on Centre Services – see how your school, subject, class and individual students have performed and dig deeper into your students’ results. 
• Find summer 2025 question papers, mark schemes, and examiners’ reports, all in one place on Centre Services. See what is available and when.
• You can find each of the grade boundaries on our website and the overall results statistics with cumulative pass rates for the whole AQA cohort. 

Teaching guide: Exams and theoretical framework

This guide provides an overview of Media One and Media Two. It outlines the types of questions students can be asked, which areas of the theoretical framework should be covered and a breakdown of the Close Study Products (CSPs).

It also includes a section on the four areas of the theoretical framework and key ideas.

This resource should be considered alongside the latest copy of the specification, the Sample Assessment Materials (SAMs), past papers and examiner reports.

mySupport

Post results services

Log into myAQA for post-results services to find information and deadlines and easy summary guide.

AQA NEA advisers

Each school or college has a dedicated NEA adviser. Our advisers are experienced teachers and moderators who can offer guidance and support throughout the academic year on delivering NEA.

They’re there to answer your questions, explain specification requirements, share teaching ideas and discuss general processes, planning and approaches to NEA tasks.

Their details may have changed from last year – so you can find them on Centre Services by going to ‘Pre-exams’ and then clicking on ‘NEA Advisers’. If you do not have an assigned adviser, please contact eos@aqa.org.uk.

Please be aware that contact details are confidential and must not be shared with third parties including students and on social media. Further information about our commitment to data privacy can be found in our privacy notice.

myTraining

Free CPD courses and events – autumn 2025

For autumn 2025, we’ve developed a range of free professional development training courses to help you improve your knowledge and classroom confidence.

• GCSE and A-level Media Studies: NEA Planning
• GCSE Media Studies: Getting started
• GCSE and A-level Media Studies: Mark scheme guidance and application

We’ve listened to your feedback and are offering separate courses for each written paper for our GCSE and A-level Media:

• GCSE and A-level Media Studies: Preparing for 2026 (Media 1 and 2 exam) events.

Teacher online standardisation

Are you looking to improve the accuracy of your non-exam assessment (NEA) marking this year? Why not use our free Teacher online standardisation tool during a departmental meeting to check your marking is in line with our lead moderators? 

Summer 2026 exams

Close study products (CSPs)

Remember you must download a new CSP booklet every year in June to ensure that your learners are studying the correct products, as questions in the exams will relate to these products.

The most recent 2026 and 2027 CSP booklets are available on our secure website Centre Services – please make sure you’ve downloaded the latest version.

You’ll be able find these by using the following steps:

• login to Centre Services
• click ‘Resources ’
• click ‘Assessment and training ’
• choose ’Media Studies'
• tick ‘Preliminary material’.

Year 10 and year 12 learners must study the CSP booklet for assessment in 2027 and year 11 and year 13 learners must study the CSP booklet for assessment in 2026.

The primary purpose of this booklet is to list and describe the products that must be studied as part of the course. In addition to this, there are some suggestions about how to link the CSP to the theoretical framework and the contexts of media – but these are not exhaustive, and questions may focus on applying aspects of the theoretical framework to CSPs not explicitly stated in this booklet.

NEA preliminary materials on Centre Services

To complete the NEA learners must independently respond to a brief set by AQA. We’ll release the summer 2026 GCSE (8572/C) and A-level (7572/C) NEA briefs on
1 March 2026 on Centre Services. These briefs change each year.

You can find the materials following the steps below:

• log in to Centre Services
• go to 'Resources'
• select 'Assessment and training'
• click 'All subjects'
• click 'media studies'
• under 'Resource type', select 'Non-exam assessment'.

The preliminary materials can be given to your learners straight away so they can start work on the NEA.

Except for musical performances and existing company logos, learners should not use any non-original material in their media products. To clarify further, existing company logos can include those from social media, age restriction ratings and barcodes. The use of existing logos does not apply where an original logo is required as part of the brief, as these must be created by the learner.

All other images, footage and text is to be created by the learner. If a learner does use any non-original images, footage or text, they should be aware that their marks will be limited by the marking criteria. All non-original material must be acknowledged on the candidate record form.

Learners do not have to write and record their own musical performances, either to use as part of a soundtrack or in a music video. Musical tracks that are used should be acknowledged on the GCSE and A-level candidate record form.

Remember, preliminary materials are live assessments and are therefore confidential, so do not share these materials outside of your classroom. If you do need to give the file electronically to your learners, please tell them not to share it. This includes uploading it on any website, social media platform or video sharing site. Sharing anything affecting live assessment could be considered malpractice.

Student Advisory Group – recruitment for 2025/26

We’re looking for learners to join our Student Advisory Group to help us make key decisions about the future of exams. We’d love to hear from learners who’ve completed AQA specification GCSEs since 2024, as well as from those taking AQA AS and A-levels. We also really want to hear from students taking our vocational qualifications, or vocational qualifications with any other exam board, as long as they have sat at least one AQA qualification.

Since the Student Advisory group began they’ve; represented the student voice each year at the Parliamentary Youth Reception, shared their views at the Curriculum and Assessment Youth Shadow Panel, fed into our Curriculum and Assessment call for evidence response, given insights on AI in the Classroom at the 2025 Festival of Education, helped with reviewing books for our English literature set texts list, and much more.

So if you know any learners who you think would be interested, please pass this on. Full details of the role and how to apply can be found on our website. Applications open on Monday 8 September and close at 5.00pm on Monday 22 September 2025.

Contact our team

Help is never more than a click away. If you have a question, we’ve got the answer.

Email mediastudies@aqa.org.uk

Call us on 01483 556301 8.00am–5.00pm Monday to Friday.