Year 7 Family Learning project with Birmingham Museums - the exhibition

When we launched this project in July 2013 to the Year 6 students in our feeder schools we had no idea how they would respond. Learning Officers from Birmingham Museums visited Year 6 students in their primaries schools to tell them about the 9 sites that make up the Birmingham Museums group.

Students then had from July to December to visit one of the sites with their families and the produce a piece of work inspired by something they saw or did during the visit. We gave a few suggestions.. a piece of art, a video report, a poem etc...

We asked students to hand in their projects during the first week back after the Christmas holidays. Two Year 9 students recommended by Miss Haines were asked to organise a small team to help 'curate' the exhibition and they did a fantastic job organising and displaying all of the work and artifacts handed in.

The work handed in has been amazing! The variety in particular has been the most pleasing thing. What talented students - we have had paintings, booklets, large displays, jewellery, ceramics, websites, powerpoint presentations, poems, costumes, models and lots more...

We now look forward to this week's Pop-Up exhibition (it is in the Library) and will be open from 3-6pm for Year 7 parents to view during parents' evening.

More information to follow about the celebration event at Birmingham Museums later this year.

CREATIVE INDUSTRIES WEEK

The creative arts and technology department staged a creative industries week during October.
We had an exhibition showing a huge variety of courses, jobs and careers involved in the creative arts. We showcased courses from various Universities and students could choose from a variety of leaflets and information booklets relating to these courses and careers.

The week finished off in style with an experience day where various professional people were invited into the department and they were kind enough to share their skills, information, techniques and enthusiasm with the year 9 students.

We invited Maria Freeman , the fashion buyer for TU clothing at Sainsbury's,who set the students a task to try designing a range of clothing of their choice.

 

Hype clothing, a fashion design house, specialising in t-shirt design sent in loads of promotional pieces and videos of their ranges and asked the students to design their own t-shirt for a competition. They sent in some prizes for the best 10 in each group but the final  first overall prize was to get the winning design, selected by Hype themselves, to be made up into a t-shirt.

 

We had an illustrator/cartoonist who explained the way his mind worked and how his images evolve on the paper, the year 9 students were encouraged to have a go.

 

In the Hairdressing studio the students watched videos of fashion styles and were able to try some of these out. 

 

Senior Graphic Designer Viv Greywolde from AKQA in London, he has designed for a variety of companies including Nike.

 

Ed Hull, a personnal trainer and sports nutritionist helped the students learn about healthy eating, discovering how we are mislead by food packaging and showing them just how much sugar was in a can of coke!

They all made fruit smoothies

 

 

 YEAR 7 VISIT

 

DAMIEN HIRST

EXHIBITION

On Wednesday 9th October the whole of Year 7 went to visit the Damien Hirst Exhibition at the Walsall Art Gallery. Half of the year group visited in the morning and the other half after lunch, which meant that a total of 241 children were able to experience the pieces that they were studying during their art lessons.

 

 We saw the gruesome photograph of  "With Dead Head" as well as "Away from the Flock, the sheep preserved in formaldyhyde,( which was one of the favourites). Year 7 experienced the size and scale of the triptch "Pharamacology, Physioloolgy and Pathology" and the beautiful spin painting"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree 2002"

SUMMER EXHIBITION 2013

The Creative arts and Technology Department held their annual "Summer Exhibition " in the Smart Centre on June 6th. We showcased the work from all students throughout the whole department including:- Art and Photography, Food and Catering, Resistant Materials and Product Design, Graphics, Hairdressing and Textiles. The afternoon and evening was a tremendous success and we even had a visit from the Mayor!

Year 7 Family Learning Project with Birmingham Museums

We are really excited to launch our Family Learning Project with our new Year 7s who start with us this September.

Families are asked to visit one of the Birmingham Museums sites (there are 9 to choose from and of course families can choose to visit more than one) and find something that inspires them to produce a piece of work. They can visit from anytime now until the end of the Autumn Term.

The projects will be handed in at the start of January and there will be an exhibition of the work at school. Also selected items will be exhibited at one of the Birmingham Museums sites.

There are no limits on what the work can be or the inspiration in fact....

Here are some ideas though:

• A painting completed by the student (with guidance from Family) that was inspired by a piece of Art seen at BM&AG
• A film report on Matthew Boulton based on information found out about him from a visit to Soho House.
• A jewellery piece designed and made which has been inspired by the workshops at the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter.
• A short story inspired by a tale from the Civil War at Aston Hall.
• A piece of sculpture created as a reaction to a something seen in the new Birmingham Histories Gallery at BM&AG 
• A animation based on participation in Knight School this August at Blakesley Hall.
• A video diary about the life of a Tommie after seeing local WWI Living History group The Warwicks 1914-1918 at BM&AG
• A poem based on Sarehole Mill the location that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings.

We really want to encourage families to be involved in the learning that takes place. So please discuss it, work on it together, refine it and help present it to the highest standards. Each student's project should be handed in with maximum of one side of A4 explaining which Birmingham Museums site they visited and what their inspiration and why. We'd love to see a photo of you together at your BM site if possible too!

There are 9 sites to choose from that belong to the Birmingham Museums group:

• Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Free entry to everyone)
• Aston Hall *
• Blakesley Hall *
• Museum of the Jewellery Quarter *
• Sarehole Mill *
• Soho House *
• Weoley Castle *
• Museums Collection Centre *
• ThinkTank **

*Free entry to Under 16s
**Charges apply to all - except Under 3s.

Please visit the websites for more information on locations, tickets and events happening through the rest of 2013.
http://www.bmag.org.uk/
http://www.thinktank.ac

With so many possibilities we can't wait to see what our new students come up with!



Year 8 Gifted and Talented CA&T Vintage Day - Friday 28th June 2013

It will be our annual cross faculty theme day for Creative Arts and Technology for Year 8 G&T students. This years theme is vintage!
Work during the day will be inspired by different decades and students will look at producing work in teams that shows their creativity and skills. There will be opportunities for students to work in Food, Textiles, Graphics, Art and Hairdressing.

A really busy department...

Year 10, 11, 12 and 13 students are busy with coursework and exams across the faculty.

Last week there were Year 10 Catering exams and Year 11 Art students had their final GCSE examinations.

There are A Level Photography and Art AS and A2 examinations coming up over the next two weeks.

Year 10 students have mock exams coming up in D&T RM, Graphics, Textiles and HE

Year 11 D&T students are finishing coursework in RM, Graphics, Textiles and HE

Year 12 and 13 D&T Product Design students have coursework to complete over the next week, with Year 12 students also preparing for their AS Advanced Innovation Challenge on the 8th May

and then we have all of the KS4 and KS5 D&T exams!

Busy, busy... good luck everyone!

Year 9 Options

How exciting...
The current Year 9 have the following subjects available to choose from in CA&T:
GCSE Art
GCSE Catering
GCSE Graphics
GCSE Home Economics
GCSE Product Design
GCSE Resistant Materials
GCSE Textiles
BTEC Construction
City and Guilds Level 1 Intro to Hairdressing and Beauty
                          .... what will you choose??

For more information have a look at the options booklet on the school website or speak to your CA&T teachers!

Sixth Form Open Evening

Tonight was Arden's Sixth Form Open Evening..

Great to talk to potential Art, Photography, Product Design and Home Economics A Level students. Lovely to meet so many new students as well - there were lots of external students thinking of coming to Arden for their A levels.

Good luck in your GCSEs everyone - hope you get the results you need!

Name change for main Year 8 lamp blog

Change of name for main lamp project blog:

http://inspiredlightingyr8project.blogspot.co.uk/

Two year 8 groups are now using blogs to record the progress of their design and manufacturing project. Have a look here...

Quadblogging Digital Leaders...

The Year 9 Digitial Leaders have a blog and this term they will be taking part in 'Quadblogging'.
This means they will be working with 3 other schools to read each others blogs and comment on them. Over the 3 months each school will be the focus and our DLs will hopefully learn lots from looking at the other blogs.
The other three schools are from America and have blogs on different topics.

Year 7 CA&T Theme Day

We are really excited about the Year 7 Theme Day on Friday 1st February...

The faculty are busy planning activities in Food, Art, RM, Graphics and Textiles.

Sixty Year 7 students will be selected as the CA&T Theme Days are invitation only. Letters will be heading out to you in the next week...

8A4 Inspired Lamp Project Blogs

New host blog for 8A4 Product Design lamp project - students will be keeping project blogs to show the progress made each lesson on the manufacture of their lamps.

Themes for the lamps are: Art deco, Memphis or Natural form

http://inspiredlighting8a4project.blogspot.co.uk/

Students are just setting up their blogs ready for next term when they start making their lamps - keep checking back for updates.

Arden's Digital Leaders Blog

The main blog has been set up and will be regularly updated with information about software and new technology being trialled by our Digital Leaders.

Have a look here:
http://digitalleadersarden.blogspot.co.uk/

Digital Leaders

November 2012 sees a new era for Creative Arts and Technology...

10 Year9 students have been appointed as Digital Leaders and will be working with Mrs Allton to test and trial new technology, apps and software that could be used in school to enhance teaching and learning. The Digital Leaders will support other students in lessons and help train staff.

Meetings will be in Room 104 in the Smart Centre on Thursday lunchtimes.

We will be looking at: iPads and their apps, prezi, blogs, twitter, 3D printing with D&T, 3D modelling with Sketch Up and Solidworks, Graphics with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and any other relevant software or technology that comes our way...

Well done to the 10 students involved!

Keep checking back to the Digital Leaders page for more information on what they have achieved.

Creative Arts and Technology Week - Tuesday/Wednesday

Tuesday 20th November 2012
Year 10 Students studying GCSE Art & Design visited Tate Modern in London

and students also enjoyed some time in Covent Garden.

Santosh Bhurra was in cooking wonderful Asian cuisine with KS4 Home Economic students.

Wednesday 21st November

50 Students from Year 10 working in the School Hall all day on a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) challenge with a facilitator from the Small Peice Trust http://www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk/ and Mr Eades, Mr Crawley and sixth form Product Design students.

We are also excited that 5 Year 10 students can have a residential STEM work experience through the Small Peice Trust. We look forward to receiving applications for this...

Santosh Bhurra worked with A level Home Economics students in the afternoon looking at different Asian breads, including Gluten Free recipes.

Mr Lyons of Lyons Butcher's, Knowle also came in to work with and demonstrate to Year 10 GCSE Catering students.

Digital Leaders - recruitment...

I am looking for 5 Year 9 students to become Digital Leaders.

Starting by looking at how new technology and online software can be used in D&T, the Digital Leaders will trial and teach each other, before supporting other students and staff with a range of ICT based software/hardware.

Digital Leaders will then look at expanding their skills and support to all areas of the curriculum at Arden.

What a fantastic start to Creative Arts & Technology week 2012

Thank you to all the hardworking students, staff and visitors to the department today...
The Year 9 'Community' Theme Day was a huge success and everyone worked really hard to make creative and interesting products in all areas of CA&T. We were also joined by a chef from Turners Restaurant, Nick Steyn a previous student at Arden worked with Year 10 Home Economics students.

Year 9 Community Theme Day

Hairdressing students working on their designs today - they interpreted 'community' by looking at the communicating with an online community. The best Hairdressing blog will be appearing on this CA&T department blog very soon.

Food students created a variety of savoury and sweet dishes that had been passed down in their community - many from families, grandmas and great grandmas...

Graphics students were working on designing a logo and branding for the Knowle Fun Run - next year is the 30th anniversary and we had a visit from a member of the Knowle and Dorridge Lions (who organise the event) judging. We were really pleased to hear that he took two of the designs with him to show the group and consider using next year.

Art students visited Knowle to get inspiration from the local community for their clay work

Product Design students visited Meridan's community area for inspiration. Students designed plans and built models of proposed community areas. These again were judged by a member of Knowle Society who works in planning/architecture.

Year 9 Product Design students working on designs for a local community area for Knowle/Dorridge.



Year 9 students working in Textiles created festival wind sock decorations. Ideas were inspired by the community by being linked to Arden or the local area in their designs.



We had a range of experts, plus Mr Murphy Principal of Arden and The Mayor of Solihull helping with the judging at the end of the day. Students involved also got chance to see the work that the other areas had been creating before voting for a winning overall team.
Prizes for individual successes will be awarded in an assembly soon.

Chef demonstration

Nick Steyn - demonstration for Year 10 students

We also were very lucky to have another visiting expert in to work with Year 10 Home Economic students. Nick Steyn, a previous Arden student demonstrated a range of dishes to inspired students. Nick works at Michelin Starred Turners Restaurant, Harborne, Birmingham. http://www.turnersrestaurantbirmingham.co.uk 

Creative Arts and Technology Week has started...

It is Monday 19th November.. which means that this years CA&T week has started.

Today we have 80 Year 9 students involved with a community theme day.. Students are working in Food, Art, Product Design, Hairdressing, Textiles and Graphics.
More photos and stories to follow later!

Year 9 Students in Food Technology - recipes passed down from the community

Creative Arts & Technology Week 19th-23rd Nov 2012

Only a few weeks until the third annual Creative Arts and Technology Week...

There will be visits, visitors, competitions, special lessons, a STEM challenge day and lots more...

More details and a programme of events will be posted here over the next fortnight.

Keep checking back for details of how you can get involved.