Moving On, Art College and beyond

St Bede’s Art Department successfully prepares a significant number of students for Art College entry each year. Numbers vary but the total has been approximately fifteen applicants per UVIth cohort in the last fifteen academic years. Many of these students progress on to the one year foundation diploma course which is the ideal preparation for a vocationally focused Degree course. Some students will progress directly onto degree courses in specialisms such as Graphic Design, Illustration, Animation or Fine Art.

We shape our final year studios in the mould of the Art College atmosphere and UVIth 2D students are allocated their own work spaces for their project work. These facilities are matched with excellent ceramic studios and photographic facilities.

Our students receive intensive tuition but we are also keen to support independent learning; in this respect the personal workspaces encourage individual responsibility and mimic the spaces that students can expect at Art College.

It is therefore gratifying that our students are often complimented on the quality of their portfolios and are regularly judged to be working beyond the Foundation Diploma level. To extend this advantage we have recently increased our life drawing classes to two sessions per week. This now rarely practised traditional skill has a great impact on art college admissions tutors and can make all the difference at a competitive interview.

The most prestigious art colleges are oversubscribed and we prepare our students with high quality portfolios by careful building of the contents of the portfolio and giving presentation advice. We also give our students interviews and I for one, enjoy playing the disgruntled admissions tutor!

We check our candidates’ progress on a specialised multi-coloured form designed by Mr Hodges, our Technician and Apple Mac wizard and regularly celebrate as our students secure places on the most competitive courses in London and the very best elsewhere.

Where do our students go? Every year we are well represented in the London Colleges. I cannot recall a year when we haven’t had students in Central St Martin’s, Chelsea or Camberwell. Each year we also have a substantial number of candidates at the City College Brighton and Hove. All of these colleges have excellent track records in moving their students on to the best degree courses all over the country, and are keen to report on this in their programme literature.

We have had consistent success at Bournemouth Institute, Oxford Brookes and the recently re-named University of Creative Arts who have campuses as far afield as Farnham, Epsom. Maidstone, Rochester and Canterbury. Each year we have students who are keen to study in far flung places such as Manchester or Leeds.

What about feedback? Students regularly come back to school and report on their experiences at Art College which are almost always overwhelmingly positive. I ask them if their experience at St Bede's has helped them to prepare for college and it is very pleasing to hear the affirmative reply: ‘Oh yes Mr Jordan, St Bede's taught us how to draw.’

Perhaps the most gratifying experience of all is to hear of the alumni who take up the arts as a profession. I have enjoyed meeting Glass Sculptors, Professional Studio Photographers and Graphic Designers who all started their creative life here.

Mr Jordan