As one of the biggest industries in the world, we are proud to offer Textiles to our pupils at Gartree High School. Learners should expect a broad curriculum to spark imaginations and inspire creative outcomes. Lessons in Textiles are taught as part of a rotation with other arts subjects until year 9. This is usually a single and a double lesson per week over a period of ten weeks. In that time pupils build up a skills base such as hand sewing in year 7 to machine skills in year 8 & 9. Each rotation offers students the opportunity to reflect and enhance those skills through evaluation and assessment. Our workshops are well resourced and offer materials and equipment well suited for the growing demands of a technical age as well as keeping a strong focus on traditional crafts and cultural diversity that inspire our projects.

The Textiles Team

We are a small department, with Mrs Goddard teaching the majority of lessons.

In KS3 you can expect to see lessons taught in sketching and design techniques, hand sewing, applique, sewing machine (including free hand embroidery), block printing, tie dye, Shibori, Adinkra, Batik, weaving, quilting, laser cut stencil work, CAD design, sublimation printing, mathematical paper patterns, modelling and array of final outcomes.

In KS4, lessons build on this strong foundation of our KS3 Textiles and Art offer. Expertise is offered in mark making and continuous line charcoal observations. Palette knives replace paint brushes as pupils seek to create pastiches of artists and designers with personal annotations. There is an emphasis on creating your own fabrics which may include, PVA fabric, melting techniques, constructed textiles, transfer dyes or heat setting Shibori. Outcomes vary across fashion and accessories to textiles art.

Key Stage 3

Lessons follow the national curriculum with a focus on DESIGN, MAKE and EVALUATE which leads to the GCSE in Design and Technology. However, GCSE Textiles follows the same curriculum as GCSE Fine Art so a careful blend of lessons has been created in house to prepare pupils for both routes.

Year 7 - Our first project of the 10 week rotation looks at natural and man-made fabrics and lets our pupils explore the problem of sustainability. Outcomes encourage thoughtful IT based research and hand rendered design that inspire 3-D products based on hand sewing. The second project looks at cultural textiles and explores techniques from India and the world of fashion. Pupils evaluate their work with annotated photographs and peer assessment.

Year 8 - Encourages IT based independent research and design iteration, again addressing sustainability and the carbon footprint of fashion. Each double lesson pupils practice a new textiles technique which culminates in an upcycled product. Each single lesson they evaluate the skills learned so far and use this to focus on the success of their final piece.

Year 9 - The autumn term is a four week rotation for the whole of year 9. In this time students are given a 'taster' of GCSE Textiles. Week one is creative weaving, week 2 is sewing machine reflection, weeks 3 & 4 students design and make a pendant based on cultural values. These are then hung in the atrium for options evening.  After Christmas year 9 move to their chosen subject and they begin a period of study in preparation for GCSE.

Key Stage 4

How the course is assessed?

·  60% Portfolio of work (controlled assessment)

·  40% Externally set assignment (10hrs)

Exam board: : AQA (8204)

Course Overview:

GCSE Textiles Design provides students with a wide range of creative, exciting and stimulating opportunities to explore their interests in ways that are both personally relevant and developmental in nature.

This course enables students to develop their ability to actively engage in the processes of Textiles Design – to build creative skills through learning and doing, to develop imaginative and intuitive ways of working, and to develop knowledge and understanding of media, materials and technologies in historical and contemporary contexts, societies and cultures.

You can expect to:

We aim to provide a balance in the programme of study between making and investigating, whereby students engage in the practical aspects of creating textiles and develop the knowledge and understanding of textiles. Students study the work of artists and fashion designers from our own culture and other cultures both past and present. Students have the opportunity to make:

• art textiles

• costume design

• constructed textiles

• fashion

• printed and dyed textiles

• surface pattern

• stitched and/or embellished textiles

• soft furnishings and/or textiles for interiors

• digital textiles

• installed textiles.

During the two-year GCSE course, students develop the core study skills of recording and collecting, developing and exploring, analysing and understanding, realising and evaluating, through a series of coursework projects in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional work.

Where does it lead?

It is a strong foundation for further progression to Textile related courses, such as A-level Textiles, and enhanced vocational and career pathways.