Learner Voice | October 2018

What do you love about the art department at Thomas Rotherham College?

Facilities and Techniques – 58%

The most popular response in this category was the facilities available in the department and the techniques taught in the course. This was high across all endorsements, with 66% in Fine Art, 40% in Graphics and 62% in Photography. Every year we try and improve and widen the variety of ways our students can express themselves, no matter which subject they are studying, most recently revamping our little studio here in art to make it much more useful and practical for those using it.  The darkroom has clearly been a HUGE hit with Photography students as this was the majority of what they said they loved in our range of facilities.

‘Enjoy learning different techniques to branch out style’

‘There is a lot of different techniques and materials that we can use’

‘Learning new techniques and being able to use facilities at any time in the rooms’

Open Door Policy – 26%

Another popular aspect of the department, and the second biggest response in the survey, was that our rooms are always available to work in during free periods and study hall sessions. Once again, this comes up every year, which is why we will always push to keep this as constant practice in our department! Not only does it encourage and foster a conscientious and hard-working environment, but we also believe that it is also one of the reasons we have such a great buzz around the department throughout the whole year, as it shows real commitment and passion for the subject you’re studying!

‘I really like the extra time you can come into the rooms to work’

‘I like that you can come in and do work anytime as this really helps me with my workload’

‘Always having the department open for free periods’

General Atmosphere and Relationships with Staff – 19%

Following on nicely from our open door policy, the general atmosphere surrounding the department and the support from staff members was mentioned by 19% of our students overall. We love this too!! This is so important to us and we’re glad it is to you as well! As I said before, the positive atmosphere is largely down to how brilliant all your attitudes are and your engagement in our courses. If we didn’t see your cheery faces every day then the department would be such a different place! It’s also great to know that you can see we are working hard on our end as well to give you the support you need.

‘The atmosphere surrounding the whole department’ ‘It’s a calm environment that I feel safe to express myself in and have been able to explore techniques I never knew’ ‘Comfortable place to be’ ‘How the staff are so friendly and approachable’ ‘The encouragement we get from the teachers!’ ‘How supportive everyone is’

Freedom and Independence – 18%

This isn’t usually mentioned so early on in the course as we are still in the ‘exploring media’ phase of the year, which means getting to grips with the techniques and facilities we have. So it is great to hear that you are already using your creative freedom to express yourselves in the work you have been doing for the past term! Art subjects are very personal and independent subjects, so it is great that you are enjoying that aspect of it!

‘Freedom in sketchbooks’

‘The freedom of the work’

‘I like the independence that comes with the course’

‘Being left to your own devices’

‘The freedom to go where we want with our work’

A few honourable mentions….

·         Organisation and Purple Books (13%)

·         Trips (6%)

·         Photoshoots (4%)

·         Shop (3%)

What do you wish for in the art department at Thomas Rotherham College?

More/Another/New…. GUILLOTINE!! – 47%

The age old request! This has been at the top of the ‘wish for’ for years, especially as the department keeps growing both in terms of student numbers and the ambition and scale of work that is done in the department, which of course means more demand and strain on our 3 current guillotines. Last year we replaced the plastic band on one of the upstairs guillotines at the suggestion of the student reps which greatly improved it and made it much more reliable, and for now it is only little fixes like this that we will be able to do due to our budget… The large good quality guillotines we buy are nearly £450!!

We will be electing student reps after half term, and one thing we will put forward is possible fundraising in the department and what they think would be best to spend this money on.

This will always be something we are looking to invest in, but we just cannot justify it right now – sorry!

Also we cannot have a guillotine where ‘the handle goes down and not across’ because we may end up with lots of chopped fingers!

Printer Credits – 32%

Another issue that has been mentioned many times over the past few learner voices! Once again, the sheer increase in the scale of work you all produce also means much more printing, which of course means the printer credits you are given are used up very quickly. All students around college now get £15 per term (September, January, April), and this actually used to be £10 a term so it has recently increased! We do not make any decisions involving printer credits, so it is not something we can do much about. But as always, we will mention this to the people who can make that decision and see if there is anything we can do to increase them for you – as it is an important requirement of your course!

Reprographics were also mentioned, with one student said that they take too much off their card so they don’t have enough for normal printing. As this was a Graphics/Photography student, Reprographics take off £5 off your credits to pay for any specialist printing you require. During your two years of Graphics and Photography you will need to print off lots of acetates, A3+ size printing and possibly things such as transfer paper. So this money is in good hands and I can guarantee you will be using them a lot throughout the year! However, if you are really struggling, drop them an email and ask if you can have some money put back on you credits.

Less Homework – 6%

Unfortunately, in order to meet the assessment criteria you have to demonstrate independence, a wide range of skills and an impressive body of work. The college expectation in 4.5 hours in lessons and 4-5 hours outside lessons. We try to support you as much as possible with this e.g. Homework GO TO GUIDE and open door policy, but unfortunately, whatever A Level course you do, you would be expected to do a lot of homework.

More Time Spent on Certain Techniques (e.g. colour mixing, photoshop etc.) – 5%

We give you short introductions to techniques and you will get the opportunity to specialise further as the course progresses. You will get more 121 support with your chosen specialisms and get lots more time to practise these skills.

Bigger Spaces to Work In – 5%

Every year after the exhibition we rearrange the rooms slightly to make them more suitable for working in, particularly the areas for working outside lessons, but unfortunately we only have so many tables and only so much physical space in the department to fit them in! This year we are lucky to have 3 blocks on the art timetable that only have one lesson in them, meaning upstairs is completely empty for you to work in during C and E block, and the same for downstairs in F block. This mean there is much more access to table space in the rooms, so if you have free during any of these periods, they are a great time to come in and work!

More Trips – 5%

Currently we have the YSP trip in October for A1 students and Manchester in February for A2 students. However, this is not set in stone it is just how we’ve been running it for the past couple of years and seems to work well. However, so long as another trip would fit in nicely with our scheme of work – we would also like more! We will discuss the practicality and suitability of adding more trips to the scheme of work.

Overview of Topics That Will Be Covered – 5%

We think this is a great idea! This hasn’t been mentioned before and we hadn’t thought about it before – which is why learner voice is so useful! We do have a general outlie of topics and techniques covered during your exploring media, although it will never be specific in terms of weeks as it can sometimes swap and change depending on circumstances. But we could definitely put together an outline of what will be covered up until January to give to you, and also do this again in September at the start of terms with next year’s A1s. This is definitely something we’ll look into!

Bigger Purple Books – 5%

Purple books are expensive for us to produce as a department! If you would like a bigger one, you can order an A4 size one for your next project, but you would need to make a contribution to the department of £2.

Bigger Studio – 5%

Similarly to the request for bigger practical working areas – we have to work around the rooms we have and we cannot create more space, although we wish we could! Two years ago we didn’t have a studio at all in the art department so it is still a relatively new addition to us. It has improved since last year also as we have created permanent white and black backdrops as well as more studio lighting choices. If you are ever in need of a bigger space, there is a studio up in Woodhurst that you can book with the Media technicians Sam and Britt. But unfortunately, we cannot make our studio room any bigger than it is – sorry! 

A few honourable mentions….

Longer lessons

Yes please! 😊 We are not in control of the timetable but we would love longer lessons as they would work great for our subjects!

More freedom

As we are still in the ‘exploring media’ phase of the course, it can feel a little restricting at times as you are still getting to grips with the basic techniques and facilities here in the department (although 18% of you said you loved the freedom and independence of the course!). You will soon be starting your major coursework project where you will begin your own personal journey and you will choose your own subject matters as well as the materials and techniques you use. It will come – give it time!

More: small paint brushes, glue sticks, coloured papers

All these things are available for very reasonable prices in the art shop! All items in the shop are sold at cost price, meaning we don’t make any profit on them and therefore cannot lower the prices (even though wish we could!).

We can only offer so many materials out in the classrooms for free, because many of these materials (such as paint brushes) are almost always lost or damaged due to careless use and thoughtlessness. So for these reasons we cannot provide items like this for free.

‘Lessons feel as if I should be demonstrating my skills instead of learning new ones, which can be hard for me as I didn’t do GCSE in art’

The first term is as much about demonstrating what you do know, as much as us finding out what you don’t know. This way as teacher – we know where your skills lie and how to support you. This is the first year we have had students on the course who have not completed GCSE in Art, so perhaps we could look at providing further support for students without this prior experience next year. Although, I have ot say, the handful of students we have who gained a place on the course through portfolio have shown fantastic skill and resilience and we as a department wholeheartedly agree that opening the course up to portfolio submissions was a positive thing!

‘To be good at the subject’

YOU ARE!! 😊