How do you build the portfolio and supporting document that evidences your work in CCEA Performing Arts?
The portfolio and supporting evidence: building the record of work, supporting document, skills audit, research log and risk assessment that the moderator marks across CCEA Performing Arts units.
How to build the portfolio and supporting document at the heart of CCEA Performing Arts. Covers the skills audit, research log, rehearsal record, risk assessment and supporting document, what each evidences, and how to keep a moderator-ready record across every unit.
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What this dot point is asking
Because CCEA Performing Arts has no exam, the portfolio and supporting document are the assessment. They are how a moderator, who may never have seen your rehearsals or your event, awards marks against the objectives. This page explains the components, the skills audit, research log, rehearsal record, risk assessment and reflective evaluation, what each one evidences, and how to keep a record that is clear, dated and moderator-ready. Good content with a disorganised portfolio loses marks; the portfolio is a skill in itself.
The components and what they evidence
- Skills audit. A dated, honest self-assessment of your starting skills. It sets the baseline against which development is later judged, and seeds AO1 and AO4.
- Research log. Your investigation of repertoire, practitioners, styles and source material, each entry paired with the decision it informed. This is the heart of AO2.
- Rehearsal record. Dated logs of what you practised, what you tried and what changed, which makes applied skill (AO1) and the working process (AO3) visible.
- Risk assessment. Identification of hazards and the controls you put in place. It is both a professional requirement and evidence of safe, industry-aware practice.
- Record and evaluation. A reflective account judging the process and outcome with evidence, which carries AO4.
The supporting document in the planning units
The AS 2 and A2 units centre on planning and realising an event, so they add a supporting document. Its job is to let a moderator follow the whole journey from first idea to live performance. It should:
- Track the process over time, dated from concept through development to realisation.
- Record decisions, not just activity, with the reasoning and the research or feedback behind each.
- Hold the working evidence: schedules, role allocations, budgets, promotional drafts, contingency plans and minutes of meetings.
- End with evaluation that judges the event against its aims with evidence.
Keeping a moderator-ready record
The difference between a middle-band and a top-band portfolio is often organisation, not effort. A clear, contemporaneous record beats a richer one assembled in a panic at the end.
- Keep it live. Write entries as the work happens; a record reconstructed from memory loses the detail that earns marks.
- Signpost the objectives. A simple label or margin note ("AO2: research informing the set design") guides the moderator to the credit.
- Use varied media. Dated photographs, video, annotated scripts or scores, plots and drawings evidence practical work better than prose alone.
- Stay honest. An audit that admits weaknesses gives you something to improve, and self-critical reflection scores higher than self-congratulation.
Why the portfolio is the skill
In a written subject, knowledge can rescue a disorganised answer. In a coursework subject, the record is the work the examiner sees, so a strong process that is poorly evidenced reads as a weak one. Treating the portfolio as a deliverable in its own right, structured, dated, signposted and honest, is how you make sure the marks match the effort you actually put in. The students who do best build the habit early and keep it for every unit, because the same evidencing discipline carries from the first skills audit to the final production record.
Try this
Q1. Name four components a CCEA AS 1 Performing Arts portfolio should contain. [4 marks]
- Cue. A skills audit, a research log, a rehearsal record, a risk assessment, and a reflective record and evaluation (any four).
Q2. What is the purpose of the supporting document in the planning units? [2 marks]
- Cue. To let a moderator follow how an event was planned, developed and realised over time, recording decisions and their reasons with the working evidence.
Q3. Why is a contemporaneous, dated record better than one assembled at the end? [2 marks]
- Cue. It captures the detail of decisions and changes as they happen, which a reconstructed record loses, and a moderator can only credit clearly evidenced, dated work.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of CCEA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
CCEA AS 1 portfolio12 marksDescribe the components your AS 1 portfolio should contain and explain what each one evidences.Show worked answer →
The AS 1 portfolio is a record of a working process, so each component
maps to an assessment objective.
Skills audit. A dated, honest self-assessment of your starting skills,
which gives the unit its baseline and feeds AO1 and AO4.
Research. Investigation of repertoire, practitioners and styles, with the
decisions it informed, which evidences AO2.
Rehearsal record. Dated logs of what you practised and what changed, which
evidences AO1 and the process under AO3.
Risk assessment. Identification of hazards and controls for your practical
work, which is a required professional document.
Record and evaluation. A reflective account judging the process and
outcome, which evidences AO4. Each part must be present, dated and clearly
labelled for the moderator.
CCEA AS 2 portfolio8 marksWhat is the purpose of the supporting document in the planning units, and what should it show?Show worked answer →
The supporting document is the written spine that lets a moderator see
the planning and process behind a live event they may not have attended.
Track the whole process. It records how you planned, developed and
realised the event from first idea to performance, so it shows AO3 over
time.
Show decisions and reasons. It is not a diary of activity but a record of
choices, each with the reasoning and the research or feedback behind it.
Include the working evidence. Schedules, role allocations, promotional
drafts, budgets and contingency notes belong here.
End with evaluation. A reflective section judges the event against its
aims with evidence, marking AO4. Clear structure and dated entries make it
moderator-ready.
Related dot points
- The assessment objectives: understanding AO1 to AO4, what each rewards, and how to evidence them across the AS and A2 units of CCEA Performing Arts.
How the four assessment objectives drive every CCEA Performing Arts unit. Covers what AO1 to AO4 reward, how they are weighted and split between AS and A2, and how to evidence each one in your portfolios, performances and supporting documents.
- Disciplines and skills: the performance pathways (acting, dance, music, musical theatre) and production pathways (technical and management roles), and the craft skills each demands across CCEA Performing Arts.
An overview of the disciplines you can offer in CCEA Performing Arts. Covers the performance pathways of acting, dance, music and musical theatre, the production and technical pathways, and the specific craft skills, vocabulary and discipline each one demands.
- Evaluation and reflection: judging process and outcome critically with evidence, comparing intention to result, and reaching forward-looking conclusions across CCEA Performing Arts units.
How to write the evaluation and reflection that CCEA Performing Arts rewards under AO4. Covers judging process and outcome critically, using specific evidence such as footage and feedback, comparing intention to result, and reaching forward-looking conclusions that lift the band.
- AS 1 Developing Skills and Repertoire: developing and applying skills in a chosen discipline, researching and rehearsing repertoire, and producing a portfolio with a skills audit, research, risk assessment, and record and evaluation.
A full overview of CCEA AS 1 Developing Skills and Repertoire. Covers developing and applying skills in a chosen discipline, researching and rehearsing repertoire, and producing the portfolio of a skills audit, research, risk assessment, and record and evaluation that the moderator marks.
- AS 2 Planning and Realising a Performing Arts Event: planning, developing and realising an event for an audience, working in a group, and producing a supporting document that records the process and a final evaluation.
A full overview of CCEA AS 2 Planning and Realising a Performing Arts Event. Covers planning, developing and realising an event for an audience as part of a group, the roles and logistics involved, and the supporting document that records the process and a final evaluation that the moderator marks.
Sources & how we know this
- CCEA GCE Performing Arts specification — CCEA (2016)