The latest community update from
Brookfield Community School
Newsletter edited by Brookfield Journalism Group
Brookfield plays an important role educating our young people and prepares them for life in the working world. Many of the events and achievements are celebrated internally and we'll bring you details of school news and keep you aware of developments.
2020 Lesotho Plans
This term, Year 12 Brookfield students have been given the opportunity of a lifetime. A new programme has been started by the charity ‘Africa’s Gift’ which will be sending a group of students to the small African nation Lesotho in 2020.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to truly make an impact on the lives of the communities we are going to visit,”
The Kingdom of Lesotho is a country, roughly the size of Belgium, completely surrounded by South Africa. It has a population of over two million people and is the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 metres. It gained independence from the British Empire in 1966.
The students will go to Lesotho - also known as The Kingdom in the Sky - and will undertake a variety of educational and environmental tasks in partnership with communities, and of course see some beautiful animals and scenery on a safari in a stunning National Park.
“I’m very excited about this charity trip because it’s a great way to help people. We plan to help teach sustainable farming using the soil they have and without deforestation.”
The trip will obviously be costly so students will have to raise the £2000 needed to take part. There have already been fundraising efforts by a group of students who had a bake sale, raising nearly £100 in just a single lunchtime.
Sam Whitehead, a year 12 student wanting to take part in the trip, described why he wanted to do it. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to truly make an impact on the lives of the communities we are going to visit,” Sam explained. “I’m very excited about this charity trip because it’s a great way to help people. We plan to help teach sustainable farming using the soil they have and without deforestation.”
This exciting trip is sure to be an experience never to be forgotten, not to mention the year of fundraising to be able to go there. Good luck to all students taking part.
Text: George Harris
Taking in the Tate & More
This term has been one filled with exciting trips for Art and Graphics students, many beginning new courses seeking inspiration to support learning.
A September London residential enabled A-Level art, graphics and textiles students to gain inspiration and context for their creative artworks. They visited multiple art galleries, namely the Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Modern, featuring incredible artists such as Van Gogh and Ed Ruscha. As well as this they also attended the B.P. portrait award, an award given to and coveted by the best artists in Britain. Overall the trip proved informative and inspirational to the students and furthered their understanding upon options and techniques to pursue in their independent studies.
In late September sunshine, Brookfield’s year 12 A-level graphic students ventured to Chatsworth to aid their coursework and further their understanding of the brief they were working from: to “Present original design work for stationery, cards or gift wrap that could be sold in Chatsworth’s Orangery or Stables stores.” It needed also to “authentically reflect a visit to Chatsworth’s grounds.” This trip allowed them to contextually understand the type of products purchased upon the Chatsworth grounds as well as take photos of Chatsworth breath-taking sculptures, architecture and flora to serve as inspiration for their creations. After which they began doing their own drawings to reflect their discoveries on the day, whilst still surrounded by the breath-taking sights of Chatsworth.
Thankfully the weather proved accommodating and the students attained lots of ideas and context to assist them in their coursework.
A perfect autumn visit saw the year 10 GCSE art students take part in a trip to further inspire and mould their artistic studies. Their morning adventure centred on Hepworth Wakefield, an award- winning gallery in West Yorkshire. This features Barbara Hepworth’s greatest sculptures and paintings collected together for the public's viewing. During the afternoon students then visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which is a sculpture museum spanning 500-acres of land, as well as holding the prestigious honour of being the first sculpture park in the U.K. Hence the art that was featured has attained historical importance whilst simultaneously being magnificently innovative. The visit provided students with the irreplaceable breadth of work that yielded choice and opportunity in their own creative endeavours.
Text: Shannon Palmer
Images: Georgie Long (Design Teacher)