Welcome from Candy and Emmy
Happy New Year and welcome to our weekly newsletter. We want to keep you updated on all the activities, events and good news stories happening each week. Last term was a busy and extremely successful start to the academic year, with Parkhill Campus opening, the inauguration of our UAL-accredited Foundation Course, the official opening of The Law Theatre and our wonderful annual Christmas carol concert, after which we raised £4,431.30 in donations for the charity Crisis at Christmas.
College Clubs
We would like to remind you of our many ongoing clubs and activities, which take place during the lunch hour and after college:
Acting Workshop
Following the students’ success in the Fine Arts first all-school production, The Watsons, in December, this spring term we will be running Acting workshops on Friday afternoons in the theatre. We will focus on voice, character objectives and improvisation. Students are also welcome to bring monologues and scripts – whether for drama school auditions or anything else to work on. Next term we will be back to rehearsals for the Summer production TBA!
Life Drawing
Life Drawing is held in Art Room 1 on Wednesdays 5 – 7pm. This provides an exciting opportunity to record the human body with an intense focus on observation in a mature, purposeful environment. The human body has proved to be an endlessly fascinating subject in art, and the life room gives expression to this.
FAC Band & Choir
The College Bands are open to instrumentalists from all year groups, offering students the chance to make music together in a fun and supportive environment. Band members perform music chosen by the students themselves and showcase their talents at various events across the year.
The College Choir is open to all students across the college and welcomes singers of all experience levels. Members enjoy performing a wide variety of musical styles and take part in performances throughout the year.
Film Club
Film Club continues this year with a termly global film screening. Next month we will be showing the 1997 Indian art film ‘The Square Circle’ by Amol Palekar and starring Nirmal Pandey and Sonali Kulkarni. Known for its sensitive exploration of gender and sexual discrimination, the film tracks the journey of a young woman fleeing abuse and her liaison with a cross-dressing actor who helps her to cope with her trauma. Eventually, she reinvents herself, challenging societal conventions with profound dialogues about self-worth and individuality.
The following clubs also run throughout the week:
The Creative Writing Club, Dance Club, Film Club, Chess Club, Debating Club, Football and Netball.
Posters are around Centre Studios and Parkhill. Please encourage students to join.
Enrichment Talks
Our weekly Enrichment Programme is specifically for Year 12 students, although other year groups are also encouraged to attend relevant talks.
This week Caitlin Ellis from InvestIn, a branch of Dukes Education that provides immersive work experience spoke about the importance of work experience for acquiring and developing skills that will appeal to future employers. The slides from the talk will be sent to students and parents.
Next week Margaret Park, Director of Careers will be speaking on: Applying for university degrees and the Foundation Art Diploma and what students should be doing now to prepare.
Lunch Provisions
Lunches will be offered in the Student Common Room, Parkhill during the cold months. As well as sandwiches, wraps and salads, soup is now on the menu.
Congratulations to our Film Student
Summer 2025 graduate Pau Guitart has been shortlisted for the Eduqas Moving Image Awards Competition for his entry Waschmaschine for Best Short Film. In addition, Huxley Dobner’s was recognised as a ‘Highly Commended Entrant’ for his highly stylized crime film Witness. Our college was listed as a ‘Commended Centre’ for the excellent student work submitted this year. We are very proud of our filmmakers whose original productions have earned this prestigious national ranking from the awarding body.
