Last week a group of 40 Year 11 Art & DT  pupils headed off to the big city for a two-day residential, accompanied by Mr. Birtwistle, Head of Creative Faculty, Mr. Windle, and Miss Watson.

With a jam packed itinerary in place, pupils visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, the largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts, and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. The National Gallery, the National History Museum, and Tate Modern where pupils explored artists from Tate’s collection who have embraced new and unusual materials and methods,  looked at how artists in Tate’s collection have responded to the impact of mass media and investigated the processes artists use to make artworks, and how our responses are integral to the piece.

The next stop was sightseeing at Buckingham Place, Trafalgar Square, and some downtime shopping in Convent Garden followed by a guided walk to Wembley Stadium in the evening.

Mr. Birtwistle said “The opportunity for pupils to explore the work of past and present greatly enriched the critical and contextual aspects of the subject and directly informed the development of their next project. Very much an enjoyable two days.”

Miss Watson said “A fantastic learning opportunity for both Art and DT pupils enriched with experiencing the sites of London. The trip was well organised, and this allowed a great execution of the day’s activities.

Pupils attending said:

“I found the whole visit great fun. I particularly liked the Victoria and Albert Museum where I found inspirational work for my GCSE Art project.”

“One of the best trips I’ve ever been on!”

“This trip was beneficial to my Art GCSE project as it widened my views on different Artists and art styles.”

“The choice of museums was varied which gave us a lot of different material/context to work with.”

Mr Windle, Trip Leader said: ” The itinerary was ambitious, but everything ran smoothly, pupils behaved responsibly and respectfully and had a real thirst for knowledge. Their attitude towards the public and venue staff was exemplary and as staff, we were very proud. A true credit to QEGS.”