My name is Joe Gradwell and I am the Lead Media Arts Teacher at AGS. In 2004 a group of staff led by a long serving and distinguished Art teacher (Andrea Parry) took part in a rigorous process to secure specialist status for the school. More information on this national initiative can be found at www.specialistschools.org.uk
The team were successful in securing the exciting specialist area of Media Arts; capitalising on the school’s rich diversity and creative talents. The status brought with it significant funding and new positions became available. The status was secured in Sept 04 and in Nov 04 I was given the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to manage the project. In this section I will hopefully be able to tell you the story so far and inform you of why your child should be choosing AGS; especially if they are serious about a career in the creative industries or creative ICT. Media Arts has already had a significant impact in creative areas of the school and we are now firmly focused on spreading this success across the curriculum, to our feeder primaries and the local community.
The Lead Teacher:
I have experience of working in several secondary schools in Sheffield and actually started my career as an English teacher. In 1996 I graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in English Lit and Film Theory. I have extensive experience of working in independent film. I have worked on various Film Council funded short and feature length films, mostly as an Assistant Director. One of my documentaries was selected for the Sheffield International Documentary Festival.
I am very proud to be a part of AGS and find the job thoroughly rewarding. When I arrived, there was already plenty of good practice regarding creativity. However, there was not a sufficient enough infrastructure to support this practice long term on a bigger scale. At the end of my second year at AGS, I really feel we have built a sound infrastructure for creative teaching and learning. Below are just some of the facilities staff and students are able to take advantage of.
Facilities
Students have access to high-level production facilities for film, radio, music recording, animation, web design, photography, script-writing and desk-top publishing.
Students making use of our professional recording studio
Media Arts Lab G1
Students performing a VJ/DJ installation in the Performing Arts Studio
Animation in the Art Block
Media facilities in the Art Block
Dual Booting machines in Room 3 – used for delivering the DiDA course
Room 21
Radio editing in Music
Staff learning photographic dark room skills in Art
Staff training in G1 with film editing
Why Media Arts?
I believe that Abbeydale’s unique social and cultural make-up provides a rich creative melting pot and there is a wealth of creative talent throughout the school. The media arts capitalise on our existing skills and inspire students to learn in new ways, across the curriculum. Students really engage with media arts activities and we are always seeking to use these skills to raise students' attainment in all their subjects.
Do not think media arts are just for students who dream of being a web designer one day. Media arts skills are transferable. Students gain advanced ICT skills, creativity, literacy, teamwork, confidence and analytical skills. For some students access to media arts activities may just mean a feeling of success and excitement when learning; for others it will be the beginning of a life long interest, that will see them working at the sharp end of say T.V. or film production. Now that we are running the DiDA courses, we are offering high level web design courses to our students, enabling them to gain employment in exciting sectors.
I personally feel that the status has given AGS a real boost and has complemented the excellent work being done by all our staff and students. Sometimes people have negative preconceptions about AGS, which can be infuriating to those of us who work here. Our exam results show steady improvement, comparing favourably with similar schools citywide and our last Ofsted inspection was good.
It is testament to the school and the status that so many established artists, agencies and creative professionals choose to work with us. Alongside the excellent work being done in school with Creative Partnerships, staff and students have worked with the film director Danny Boyle, Massive Attack vocalist Sarah Jay, poet Benjamin Zephaniah, the Lovebytes Festival, Leila Steinberg (Tupac Skakur’s first manager/artistic mentor) and a wealth of local artists including our own Matt Rowan Maw and former Artist In Residence Vicky Morris.
Vicky was our Artist in Residence for 2 years and is still involved in Media Arts here. She now coordinates the Cube Journalism and Media Project for secondary school work placements at Sheffield South City Learning Centre. Cube's website is at www.cubeweb.org.uk. Vicky has been a self employed artist & workshop leader for 5 years. With tons of experience in numerous independent multimedia projects she delivers in areas such as digital imaging, journalism, animation and web design. Previous work at AGS included reviving an old darkroom and delivering and supporting numerous multimedia projects within the school.
Visit her site at: www.vickymorris.co.uk
Services
During our time building up the media arts provision at AGS, we have learnt a lot and gained real expertise in this area. If you have any ideas for projects you would like to develop with us and the students at AGS; or if you work in a school, community project or even a business and need some advice, then please do not hesitate to contact me – media@abbeydalegrange.sheffield.sch.uk
Take a good look around the site and get a taste of some of the truly stunning work our students have produced. All moving image, media and audio on this site is the students' own original work. If you are interested in finding out more about what we are trying to achieve with creative education then www.ncaction.org.uk/creativity or www.dfes.gov.uk/naccce/index1.shtml are great places to start.
