Mr Dunk in Print

We are proud to report that our resident film expert and member of the MediaArts Faculty, has had work published. Mr Dunk has written an article on the French documentary film maker, Jean Rouch, for ‘Media Magazine’. This has been published in their online supplement available for media students, and teacher, across the country.

Check out the December issue today!

ECM Logo!

Our talented BTEC National student; Philippa Williams, has designed and helped to produce an ECM Logo which will be used throughout the school on “Every Child Matters” documents. The students in the Year 13 Art and Design class have experienced creating Logos for the school and this includes creating a Gifted and Talented Logo used by Mr Murrells (G&T Lead Teacher) The logo design fits into a digital illustration unit that the students are completing on their BTEC Art and Design course. The students have experienced using a range of digital techniques and have developed these by creating the logos. Philippa worked hard to think of a striking design and developed her ideas to fit the brief set by Mrs Moorey(Assistant Head) and Miss Fitzgerald(Director of ECM).

Miss Scruton, Teacher of Art. “The design I have created represents how I see the school community. The meaning of “Every Child Matters” is how every pupil in the school should be considered as an individual. I have symbolised this in the design by using three primary colours (the are the key elements which make all other colours)and making each figure a slightly different size and shape to support the idea that everyone is different and should be treated so.The oval around the three characters creates an idea of how our school should be a community and the students welfare should be the first priority”

Philippa Williams Year 13

The London Student Awards 2009

Art and Design students from Y10 were invited to enter the Art category of the student design awards. This year’s design task was to:

‘Design a Poster that could promote a poster about your school’

The Art teachers presented the competition to all Y10 Art and Design students during an Art lesson in November and students had 2 weeks to produce a design. Students were encouraged to think about what their school means to them, including friends, staff and the community. Students thought creatively around the challenge and there was a diverse spectrum of ideas ranging from the ‘TRS High school musical’ poster to Ghost Tales from the Discovery library…not to mention a few Zombie posters! The winning design will be selected from all of London school’s and will be rewarded with a days work experience with The Press Association-going out on location with a Photographer and they will be lucky enough to see their images live on the PA website.

Drop by the Art Department if you would like to see some of the Posters on display!

Miss Underhill

Creative & Media at Work

On Thursday 22nd October 2009, Miss Underhill arranged for Post 16 students who have an interest in pursuing a career in the creative industries to attend a day of Creative and Media workshops at Bromley Youth Music Centre. The day started with a presentation by Channel 4 Television, about ‘Working in Television’ and throughout the rest of the day students had the rare opportunity to work with a range of professionals including:

Radio Broadcasting with Bromley based SMILE Radio
Marketing with Big Dog Media company
Graphic Design with Tamazin Magazine

The students took full advantage of the workshops, practising their interview and broadcast techniques on Radio and launching their own advertising campaigns. The day ended with a creative fashion activity which the TRS students gave a 100% and stole the show! The students were commended by the guest speakers for their professionalism and enthusiasm. As a result of the day John Panda-Noah in Y13 BTEC Media has been secured a work experience placement with Channel 4 television.

Miss Underhill

Gifted and Talented Logo Designed by Post 16 Art Student

Our talented Art student Aylin Unlu (Year 13 BTEC National Diploma in Art and Design) has successfully created a logo which is now being used by Mr Murrells (Lead Teacher of G&T) as the official design for Gifted and Talented documents. Aylin developed the design based on ideas created in the MediaArts Gifted and Talented Club by younger G&T students. These students then presented their ideas in a Dragons Den style format to a panel of teachers and Post 16 students before the final design was selected. As part of a digital Illustration project, Aylin worked to develop the design as one of her final pieces, and this which was selected by Mr Murrells as being the most successful.

Miss Scruton, Teacher of Art

ECM Environment Day Improving the Community!

Our challenge was to redecorate one side of a football clubs locker room. As a group, we gathered ideas, designed and painted. We decided to split the wall into sections and work in groups so that we didn’t get confused. We agreed to present our football theme as Pop Art, as it would mainly be the younger people in the community that would see our work. Also, we only had limited hours to achieve our target so we needed to keep it as simple, yet effective, as possible.
I feel that after hours of painting the outcome was a total success, we accomplished the Pop Art football theme and learnt a lot of team work skills which will most definitely be used again. I had a great part in designing and planning for the task and I got stuck in and accomplished my design with my fellow team members.
Charlotte Jones 12AH

We arrived at the Orpington ground, in the cold, to meet Ms Ashman, Mrs Morrell and Mrs Moorey. On their arrival we didn't waste any time in turning a dirty green wall; in to a master piece (in 5 hours!). We pulled together as an active team who just got on with the plan. Not wasting much time and working together- sharing paints, cleaning brushes, moving around the huge wall without argument. The end result was something to be proud of. If I had the chance, I would definitely do it again!

Polly Spencer 12 AH

‘No Love Lost’ at The Wallace Collection

Year 13 Art Trip - Thursday 22nd October, 2009

The Wallace Collection is currently hosting an exhibition of 25 new paintings by Damien Hirst. ‘No Love Lost’ is a series of paintings that, in the artist’s words are “deeply connected to the past.” The way in which they are exhibited is carefully considered. In contrast to the white walls of a contemporary gallery, Hirst has opted to present these works in a classical environment, amongst Old Master paintings.
Year 13 Art students are currently studying ways in which to produce contemporary art forms in response to more traditional pieces. This exhibition provided inspiration for their own, independent themes which range from ‘Satire in Fashion’ to ‘Body Image’. The following report is by Tanyel Kentmen.

‘We were taken of a tour of the paintings in the collection and their significance to the Hirst exhibition. When walking into the room, we noticed the work immediately; large black backgrounds with aluminous blue images popping out at us. The image that was most eye-catching was the skull. This related to Damien Hurst’s earlier work of the diamond skull and we were told it related to the theme of death and mortality. Other images used in the painted were of shark jaws. The shark also relates to Damien’s earlier work of the shark in the tank. In his paintings he used images such as a cigarette and ashtray to show how we can shorten our mortality by giving into smoking, so it was almost like a campaign against smoking! One of the images that confused us in the paintings was a bright yellow lemon. So we asked ‘Does it show how bitter life can be?’ and our speaker answered, ‘Well we asked Mr Hirst, and he simply replied, there was a lemon next to me, so I decided to put it in there’. It goes to show however much we analyse an image; it doesn’t always have to have a deeper meaning to it. This is very typical Damien Hirst. We were asked the question, ‘Why do you think Hirst decided to go back to traditional media and paint these pictures?’. We assumed that he wanted to be able to show people that he can use every Fine Art medium. We were told that it is because most of the work he has ever created hasn’t actually been made by him, he just comes up with the ideas and it is done for him. Can he actually build a glass tank by himself? This exhibition for him was a ‘hands-on’ project, so it has more meaning and depth to it than all his other previous work.

Hirst’s ability to respond to classical pieces really inspired my work. I have since extended my research into more traditional forms of Fine Art and I feel it has made me more open to a variety of styles in addition to contemporary media.’

Remembrance Day

Cross-curricular Exhibition for Remembrance Day

A range of students in the Art and Design and History Departments have created a visual display to coincide with Remembrance Day on 11th November. The display includes work from the KS3 Art and Design Club run by Miss Wright, Miss Tahzib and Miss Scruton and Year 7 Art and History students. The aim was to create an image which would express the students understanding of the event and raise awareness of the poppy appeal to encourage sales of the poppies. The display will accompany the Remembrance Assembly organised by Mr Merrony and the History Department.
Miss Scruton.

Life Drawing

Life Drawing – Tuesday twilight sessions in the Art rooms
Tuesday 3rd November kicked off the first of the twilight Life Drawing sessions offered by the Art Department this term.

Staff and post-16 students attended the first session, Line Drawing, led by Miss Wright.
Students practiced their figure drawing skills using graphite stick and pencil, and produced some fantastic work for their portfolios. The teachers and associate staff who also attended wowed us with their hidden drawing talents!

Miss Beckford said “It was extremely relaxing and very inspiring!”
The sessions continue until December, and are open to students and staff. Please see the noticeboard for dates.

Session 2: Miss Ashman – Drawing using Tone
Session 3: Miss Underhill – Monoprinting
Session 4: Miss Scruton – Experimental Mark-making
Don’t be shy, give it a try!

Historical Heroes!

During July 2009, I was approached by the Head of History, Mr Merrony, who wanted help to create an exciting and educational mural for the history department. We worked together along with Miss Underhill to arrange a fun photo shoot of year 7 students, who dressed up as their favourite historical heroes, including Florence Nightingale and famous explorers with their penguins in arms. Over the summer holidays, I then edited the images to create a range of fun, realistic photographs of the year 7 heroes in their own historical environments, including Rosa Parks on her bus and Albert Einstein in his science lab. Mr Attwood helped to hang the photographs to create a permanent mural in the history department. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the all the staff and students involved and am very proud of the work I’ve been able to create.
Aylin Unlu, Year 13

The Christmas Journey!

On Friday 23rd October a selection of Art and Design, Gifted and Talented students worked together to create a backdrop and a series of puppets for The Christmas Journey being presented at St Mary’s Church, Bromley. The students were selected by the ability that they had previously shown in Art and Design lessons and clubs. Their work will be displayed in the church to inspire younger students to get creative over the festive season. Also on display is the banner created by our Art and Designs student which was produced last year for St Mary’s Bibleathon.
Miss Scruton, Teacher of Art

“I thought the day was a great success. It was really good to get the opportunity to work with all the other year groups and make the puppets. It was really fun because this was a very different activity from the usual lessons in the day. I think this was a great success and I would like to be part of something like this again”

Sam Slattery Year 10

“In my opinion the day was very successful. It was good to have the opportunity to be part of this day as in the end we made some fantastic puppets. It was good to see everyone in the groups using teamwork to create the puppets and background. We had to co-operate with each other and take on different roles to make the objects. I was proud to be part of it and hope that St Mary’s Church will enjoy them”

Aidan Spinks Year 10

Film Festival

It’s been Film Festival season recently and in between teaching I’ve been busy cramming in films at the London Film Festival and even travelled to Romania to a documentary film festival during half term. Yes, teachers have fun too!
The London Film Festival runs every year in October and is open to the public; from the star studded opening and closing night galas with red carpet and stars a plenty, to little known films from around the world. Every year I try to see a variety of films from around the world, this year was particularly fantastic!
During the half term I travelled to a town called Sibiu in Romania (Transylvania to be exact!), to attend the Astra Documentary Film Festival. The festival featured documentaries made by filmmakers and anthropologists with an emphasis on people and their cultures. The festival had a fantastic buzz around it and many filmmakers were on-hand to answer questions from the audience and meet with them in the cafe afterwards.
As a film teacher and film enthusiast I enjoy attending these festivals and watching a variety of films, I would recommend it to everyone!

Our Artists Get Inspired!

2009 saw the inaugural 'Get Inspired' event. Post-16 students were off timetable to attend a range of workshops and presentations by professional practitioners from Creative Industries.

'We had numerous artists and designers come into our school and talk to us about: their work, who they were inspired by, how to get into their field and give us some ideas about where we can develop our own work. I attended sessions with Sarah Lippett and Duncan Barrett from the illustration company 'Crayon Legs' and also Mark Lippett's presentation on his photography and sketches. The first session I attended was Gary Parsons who is a freelance illustrator who has work in newspapers, magazines and children's books. Personally, I really enjoyed hearing about where their ideas came from as it helped inspire me with some of my own. I enjoyed talking to different artists about their range of work and the different processes they go through in order to create an outcome. It was interesting learning about different techniques and to talk to designers who have created professional pieces of work that have been used commercially by the Media'.

Stuart Dyson, Year 13

SUMMER SHOW 2009

The 2009 Summer Show Private View was held on a warm and sunny June evening and was a well attended event. Our talented artists, their friends, families, teachers and governors all turned out to appreciate the work on show and the exhibition rooms were buzzing with enthusiastic commentary.

This summer was the first time that the MediaArts Faculty had exhibited work with Design Technology. This collaboration proved to be a huge success, not only in terms of the range of disciplines on show: Fine Art, Photography, Printmaking, Ceramics, Film, Textiles, Fashion, Resistant Materials and Graphics, but also presented a number of cross-curricular project outcomes such as the show-stopping ‘Ravensbourne’s Next Top Model’.

The event was filmed by our Year 12 Media Production students for our video magazine, ‘The River’ and the comments made by the attendees who were interviewed were highly complementary. Well done to everyone involved!

Ms Ashman

BTEC Students Make a Mess for Huggies!

As part of our commitment to Work Related Learning, a collaborative project was organised between the events styling company, 'Creative Styling' and our Year 12 BTEC National Diploma students. The project culminated in a publicity event at an Oxford Street venue which coincided with the launch of a new line of Huggies baby wipes. Mothers from across the capital were invited to enjoy a day of messy activities. Our students were given a brief to design a range of Huggies-branded products and artwork used to furnish the event. The styling company were very pleased with the results and commended the students on their hard work, professionalism and the high standard of their outcomes.

Ms Ashman

Primary School Teacher’s INSET take off in The MediaArts Faculty

This Summer sees the launch of our MediaArts INSET courses for Primary school teacher’s from The Ravensbourne School’s feeder schools. Ms Ashman has set up a variety of Art and Media skills-based activities to ensure that primary staff have the opportunity to develop their ability to teach more creative activities to students in Year 6 and below. The Faculty is keen to build relationships with these Primary schools so that the student’s who will attend The Ravensbourne School in the future will have a more valuable transition period.

The first session to kick off this initiative was a Ceramics Workshop lead by Miss Scruton. This was well attended and the staff involved were taught a range of ceramic techniques including tile-making and coil pot construction. To assist the primary teacher’s delivery of clay workshops to their students, an information pack, including a glossary which aims to increase student’s artistic vocabulary and literacy skills, was provided.

This program of INSET will be delivered throughout the Summer and Autumn Terms by a range of Art and Media subject specialist staff.

Royal Academy success for Zabby Allen

The MediaArts Faculty would like to congratulate Zabby Allen on being shortlisted and exhibited at the on-line Royal Academy A-Level exhibition.

Over 1,000 submissions from schools and colleges across the country were entered. Those exhibited were chosen by three curators including Turner Prize winner, Gillian Wearing. The curators were very impressed by the calibre and range of work submitted. This is a highly competitive competition and we are very proud to have Zabby’s outstanding work to represent the Faculty at this level.

Zabby is graduating from TRS this summer to go onto study Art at Camberwell. We know she will be very successful in the future.

International Collaboration ends in Exhibition.

Portrait by Jazmin Dervishalli

Mr Lyndon, who has been teaching at the preschool in Kerala, is shown our students work.

We were given a project by our teacher, Ms Ashman, based on working with a pre-school for children with Special Educational Needs in Kerala, India. The project brief was to create a portrait of a child from the school. This project was really a once in a life time experience, to interact by using our art with children in India who find it hard to interact with others around them. Although this was a challenging project, because the information about the children was not extremely detailed and we had not been able to meet them, it was still a brilliant way to understand and be able to highlight a person’s personality on a canvas.

To present our portraits to the community we put together an exhibition in the Conference Room at TRS on the 8th May 2009. We created leaflets and posters to advertise the event to our fellow pupils, teachers and family members. To create an Indian atmosphere we decided add Indian refreshments to serve on the night. Sarah Moss, Year 12 brought in ingredients to create an Indian drink called ‘Mango Lassie’ and small nibbles. A Powerpoint was put together showing photographs of the children and of us, this shows the culture differences between us and the children. We also put up and arranged the portraits and project work in the Conference Room for display. This exhibition was a great success as we could share our work to the community and communicate with others about the children from the school. The amount of teachers and family members who showed great interest in the work was truly supportive and encouraging. All the comments given by the visitors were extremely positive especially from Mr Lyndon, who spent 3 months with the children in the school and sent us all the information on the children including bibliographies, photographs and even some examples of the children’s art work.

On behalf of the year 12 BTEC Art and Design National Diploma class, I would like to thank everyone who attended the exhibition and our teachers for supporting our class and giving us an amazing experience.

Philippa Williams, Year 12

Live it, Breathe it, Design it!

The Ravensbourne School are one of the first schools to be a member of the 'Get Set' network set up in support of the 2012 Olympics held in London.

“The aim of the Get Set network is to bring schools, colleges and non-mainstream learning providers together in a dynamic and inspirational way. We will be encouraging them to integrate the Olympic and Paralympic Values into their planning for sustained improvement. In this way the London 2012 Games will leave a lasting educational, cultural and social legacy.”

The aim of the network is to create a special community of schools and colleges that share a common interest in the values of the Olympic and Paralympic Values.

These Values are:
friendship
respect
equality
courage
determination
excellence
inspiration

The network provides lots of opportunities for students to be involved in the exciting build up to the Olympics. The Ravensbourne School is already one step ahead as the current Year 7 MediaArts Rotation is themed on the Olympics. Students in Design and Technology, Art, Drama, Music and English are all exploring the theme in an array of exciting ways.

The Art and Design Department are celebrating the build up to the Olympics in more ways than one; Max Halton (Art and Design BTEC student in Year 12) has recently entered a design competition run by the “Get Set Network”. The brief is to design a logo which encompasses education and sport to represent a new infill for the London 2012 logo – something that captures the ambitions of Get Set and the London 2012 Games in a single image or piece of art work.

The winning design will sit alongside the Paralympic logo to create the official London 2012 education logo that will be awarded to schools and colleges who join the Get Set network! And the winning designer will have that chance to work with the London 2012 brand team to turn their artwork into the official logo!

National Doodle Day

Students from the Art and Design Department have participated in this year’s National Doodle Day. This event allows students to create their own doodle while raising money for Epilepsy Action (www.epilepsy.org.uk) and The Neurofibromatosis Association (www.nfauk.org).

Students had the freedom to create an image from their own imagination and through class votes, the following students were shortlisted:
Tyla Hart, Holly Nolan, Sophie Armstrong, Brooke Wilkinson, Summer Preston and Ceren Sihruyek, Billy Mann, Jkeith Chana, Luka Fisher, Michael Owen-Parke, Rowan Parfree, Ayesha Hall, Harrison Coombes.

After the event Miss Scruton, Miss Wright and members of her form (8WR) presented the shortlisted designs in the Small Hall and students and staff members were able to vote for their favourite design while contributing to the charities.
This resulted in Tyla Hart’s doodle being voted most popular, closely followed by Holly Nolan and in third place Sophie Armstrong.

A big thank you goes to Kidi Jahaj (8WR), Kayley Sharp (11SC) who enthusiastically collected the money for the charities, and all students who participated and all staff who contributed.

Tyla Hart’s design has now been entered for the National Competition.

Media Arts Gifted and Talented Club

Media and Art have joined forces to create a MediaArts Gifted and Talented Club.

The club is designed to fuse the exciting disciplines and facilities found in the Art and Design Department with the incredible technology found in the Media Department. The results should be striking, creative and professional finished designs which fulfil a brief within the school.
Students have been selected throughout KS3 based on peer and staff nominations and their achievements within lessons. The launch of the club saw an impressive amount of students attending the club after school to start the first project. The students who attended were of a range of ages and a group of Year 12 BTEC students are assisting with the delivery and planning of the club. The first project is an exciting competition where students will be asked to submit entries for a G&T Logo design.

Miss Barclay (Media), Miss Scruton (Art) and Mr Murrells (Gifted and Talented Lead Teacher) assisted the students with the first session assisted by Sarah Moss Post 16 Student.

Miss Scruton (MediaArts Faculty)

BTEC Media Students Help Local Hospital

Still from the training video.

Year 13 BTEC Media students have achieved great success in making a professional training DVD for the Paediatrics Department at Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough.

The school was approached by a Senior College Tutor and Doctor in the Paediatric unit at the hospital to produce a training DVD which would consist of lectures and information for new Doctors beginning their training with the Bromley NHS Trust. Year 13 BTEC Media students took on the task and after spending a few weeks planning and script writing, visited the hospital on nine occasions to film footage for the piece, amassing around 6 hours of raw footage.

The students acted in a thoroughly professional manner and were credited for their sensitivity in the environment and their approach to the work. The arduous task of editing was undertaken by the same group of students and the DVD was delivered to the hospital in time for their new intake of students in March.

Dr Ahmed, the doctor responsible at PRUH is quoted as saying “You would not believe how impressed people are. I am getting emails and phone calls from the staff who have contributed and they have liked it so much.” The project has been a success on another front; all students who took part in the project have gained invaluable live production experience and have achieved good grades towards their BTEC National Diploma course.

Art Work for St Mary's Biblethon Festival 2009

A range of students from the Art Department have worked incredibly hard in their free time to create a striking banner to be displayed in this years’ Biblethon at St Mary’s Church, Bromley. Supervised by Miss Wright and Miss Scruton, the students ranging from the ages of 11-16 have depicted various stories from the Bible to create a visual impact on the festival.

Peter Fall of St Mary’s Church was delighted with the banner which is displayed on a main wall of the church, opposite the entrance. He stated that “the students have worked incredibly hard to create such a striking piece of work”.

BTEC Trip to the Design Museum

On the 6th February 2009, BTEC art and design students from years 11, 12 and 13 went to the Design Museum in London to see the amazing and inspirational work of fashion designer Hussein Chalayan.

Hussein Chalayan is an award winning fashion designer, who graduated from Central St Martins in 1993. His work includes dresses made of lasers, to dresses which are remote controlled and can be transformed on the cat walk. His exhibition was full of absolutely beautiful pieces which I think has inspired us all for our own work. Currently in Year 12 we are starting a new costume design project which I am now very excited about, especially after this visit.

At the museum, we explored the exhibition to find our favourite pieces. This was hard as they were all so incredible. After this we made a range of sketches to use as starting points for our art work. After the Design Museum, we all braved the cold and rain and walked along the riverside to the Tate gallery to see Louise Bourgeois' Giant Spider, untitled Maman, which towered a massive thirty feet over us. It was a very inspiring day and an insight into the many career options available in the creative arts.

Aylin Unlu, Year 12 BTEC Art and Design

The Summer Challenge

Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication hosts an event called the Summer Challenge. Students from various schools the chance to produce a television show using professional equipment and in a professional environment. There were 15 students from The Ravensbourne School year 13 BTEC and 2 A-Level students involved in this
On the first day we were met by Ian, from Ravensbourne, he showed us around the studio, gallery, sound and lighting rooms during the tour we had a taster of each area to help us choose what we wanted to do for the show. After our roles had been arranged we rehearsed the programme to get people used to their roles within the team. During the early stages of rehearsal most of the shots used were simple, but as time progressed shots became more interesting. When the day ended we were told what time to be back the next day for final rehearsals before the show.

The rehearsals on the second day were our last chance to iron out as many bugs as we possibly could before we went live at 3:35. We had been told that some of the previous groups had been late by a few minuets so that their show was cut short. During this time the cameras had their final shots set up and everyone knew what they were doing. Unfortunately the band we were filming had pulled out so we had to get Andy, Andrew, and Jake to stand in for them. Whilst this was a setback it was only minor and didn’t disrupt the show. After the final run-throughs the 3:35 deadline was approaching. Due to our hard work and dedication we managed to start at 3:35 on the dot. The show turned out to be pretty good albeit a few errors but for only 2 days worth of practice it was excellent. The band segment turned out well due to the fact that there were a variety of shots that were used to replace the intended live footage. After the show we were de briefed and we saw an unedited version of what we made. All in all the challenge was a huge success and will be a very useful thing to put on a show reel.

By Scott Hennessy

The New Look River

The “new look” River is a new take on previous editions of the once a term magazine programme produced by the school. Instead of being a short video showcasing the school, it has now been adapted to a TV show format; the show has presenters who are students from the school and guests who range from faculty members to other students. Because of this a crew was needed to run the show and a group of Yr 13 BTEC media students took on the role for this all important first edition. Jobs such as camera operating, vision mixing, sound tech, lighting, floor Manager, offline editing and directing were performed by the students to great success.
Not only was this a fun extra-curricular activity it’s also a valuable learning experience for the students; it gave them the chance to build on the skills that they have acquired over the course. The reception from the audience was excellent, with many people commenting on the professional look and feel to the new show. This “New Look” River will be produced once a term and will give opportunity for students across the school and curriculum to get involved and be part of this exciting event.

By Andrew Williams and Scott Hennessy, Year 13

Post 16 Celebration Evening

The Post 16 Celebration Evening was not only a great success in terms of the MediaArts Faculty, but for the Post 16 community as a whole. The evening began with a showcase of work from a range of departments across the school, led by productions from the Drama department and interspersed with films, graphical imagery and displays from MediaArts. Physical displays were also placed in the Great Hall by various departments from around the school and a Post 16 band entertained the guests whist they perused these during the interval. A range of students, staff and the public attended and the evening was enjoyed by all. A number of comments were made during the evening about the quality of the work and the evening certainly had a positive impact for all departments involved. Year 13 BTEC Media students provided the technical support for the evening as well as a good deal of the film and digital graphic content involved and the students conducted themselves with their usual level of professionalism. The evening culminated with a very successful Christmas party for Post 16 students in the Refectory.

Mr Morrell

Y12 Btec Art Students Take on Dragon’s Den

On Friday 30th January, Ms Scruton and Miss Underhill piloted the first recorded BTEC interviews with the Y12 National Diploma students.

The students were asked to create a product for the opening of an Aquarium (ranging from fashion designs to animated projections). The students were required to “sell” their design to a panel, made up of their peers and a teacher, in order to obtain the commission as a free-lance designer.

The presentations form part of the MediaArts faculty’s new initiative to encourage creative lessons where students take ownership of their own assessment on Applied courses.

Crayonlegs Illustration Workshop

Students participating in the Crayonlegs illustration workshop

“On Friday 23rd January, an Illustration company called “Crayonlegs” came into our lesson and ran some activities such as illustration drawing based upon an article in a magazine. It seemed to be really difficult to produce the work as it was hard to make images which represent a selected text. They also let us use their Mac Book as a tool to create our illustrations. This included a touch board that is connected to the computer and you use a special pen to draw on the board and this is shown on the computer screen. The program used is Photoshop. I enjoyed this workshop as I have honestly learnt a lot from it.”

George Coulston, Year 11 BTEC

The Crayonlegs website can be viewed at http://www.crayonlegs.com/