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