Studio Time

This week, Year 10 employee Keon led a studio and exterior photography session as part of Unit 10 of BTEC Creative Digital Media Production (First Certificate). 

 

Working in a small-scale studio environment (complete with backdrop and lighting rig), Keon used Maths teacher Mr Kerr as his subject.

He experimented with different lighting setups and focal lengths, producing a contact sheet and then printing a selection of his best work.

‘I now understand how you can use lights to get different effects. The under lighting gave a really dark and mysterious effect on his face.’ -Keon

Keon repeated the process for an outdoor shoot, this time utilising the modelling services of Exams Officer Mr Samuels.

‘I understand now how you can use a reflector board to get rid of shadows and darkness.’ –Keon

Now that Keon has completed his camera tests, we look forward to him fulfilling the brief for this unit by creating photography for a specific digital media product. In the meantime, you can enjoy some of his best work below. 

Family Ties

Last week, we contributed to a new display at Park Campus Academy, where the Parallel Learning Trust is currently based. The display illustrates the growing family of academy schools of which Passport forms a new and exciting part. We’re excited to see this family of schools grow in the coming months.

We’re thrilled to announce that Year 11 employee Tyrese has earned our first GCSE certificate of the year. 

Congratulations to Year 11 employee Tyrese for achieving our first GCSE certificate this year! #NextStep #BigPicture pic.twitter.com/0Sl3gAm3LV

— Passport Programme (@Pp2eProgramme) April 22, 2016

We can’t wait to see the rest of our learners begin to fulfil their potential as we move into exam season.

Return to Form

Our first week back saw some of our Year 10 learners begin their BTEC (First Certificate) Creative Digital Media Production course, capturing photographs that demonstrated their understanding of formal elements.

They've also been learning more about the creative potential of a Digital SLR camera (adjusting shutter speed, aperture etc.). We look forward to showing you the fruits of their experiments soon.

The week was also marked by our Year 11 employees sitting a 10 hour exam for Unit 2 of BTEC (First Award/Certificate) Art and Design. Over the course of two days, they worked stringently to exam conditions, producing creative responses to their stimulus.

All learners have been sitting yet more practice papers in advance of their impending GCSE examinations. As the exam season begins, we invite you to take another look at our most recent video, in which our employees look to the future and take their next step...  

The Next Step

As we break for the Easter holidays, we look back on another eventful term at Passport to Employability, and look forward to our employees sitting their GCSE Summer exams; the next step towards employability...

New Developments

This week, our Year 11 employees visited the construction site of the new Myatt’s Field North development. Donning hardhats and hi-vis jackets, they learned about the practicalities of such a large-scale project, and about the impact that the regeneration project will have on the local area. The trip was integral to the brief to which our learners are responding for Unit 2 (Creative Project in Art and Design) of the BTEC Art and Design First Certificate.

We look forward to showing you their response to the brief in the coming weeks.

Next week, we’ll be bringing you some video highlights from this term, outlining the progress that our learners have made since Christmas, and the preparations that they are making for the academic challenges that still lay ahead.

Heart in Design

Year 11 employees spent this week presenting their art portfolios; the culmination of Unit 5 of their BTEC Art and Design course. After sitting Functional Skills Speaking and Listening exams this week, those same Year 11s are beginning to look ahead as their teachers prepare them for Summer’s GCSE exams.

Year 10 employees produced some more fantastic work for Unit 1 of BTEC Art and Design. See how they celebrated Art Practitioner Clare’s birthday…

Happy Birthday to our fantastic art practitioner Clare! Her learners created some appropriately cakey artwork today. pic.twitter.com/h0b39Np5aM

— Passport Programme (@Pp2eProgramme) March 8, 2016

Later in the week, they captured some of their 2D and 3D work with documentary photography.

They’ve made a great start to the course and we’re excited to see what they produce next term.

Vegging Out

In last week’s blog post, we shared some work produced by our second Year 10 class for their Creative Industries taster course. 

This week, they’ve created even more fantastic pieces!

 

They also began exploring the formal elements of photography. Adhering to their culinary theme, they visited Myatt’s Corner Café to capture some food-related photos. Here’s a selection of Georgia and Christiana’s work as they began to experiment with pattern, form, composition and depth of field.

The rest of our employees have spent much of this week preparing for their upcoming ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) and Speaking & Listening examinations. We're certain that they'll demonstrate how far they've progressed since their last batch of examinations.