Press Release
Nottingham
3rd November, 2009
Innovation and inspiration is all around at Thomas Cowley High School
When it came to finding a consortia lead for the new Creative Media Diploma for South Holland in Lincolnshire, few would argue that in James Hannam they got more than they bargained for. With a combined passion for technology and dedication to teaching life skills through the creative arts, his teaching methodology certainly packs a punch.
On a visit to Thomas Cowley High School to see the newly installed HP Designjet Z3200 large format photographic printer, we were astounded by what we saw. Housed in one of the original 19th Century buildings of the school, James has designed a Creative Media complex worthy of the most ambitious design studio.
Creative Media is one of the new line of Diplomas which the government are running out over the next few years. Thomas Cowley High School work with Stanford New college and Gledd Girls Technology College to deliver this diploma.
James explains, “I wanted our focus to be on the emerging digital creative areas... photography, video, sound, digital broadcast radio, vodcasting (video podcasting), 3D rapid prototyping. Creative Media covers such a wide variety of areas, fashion, textiles, drama, music, photography so students need a flexible workspace, with flexible software...and importantly hardware which is also flexible in the way it outputs.
Our Apple Macs (all 114 of them over 4 rooms) use both Windows and Mac Leopard which we will be upgrading soon to Snow Leopard, allowing students to 'pick' an operating system that suits their needs at a particular time.”
A fusion of inspirational architecture and modern technology
John E Wright & Co. based in Nottingham delivered and installed the brand-new HP Designjet Z3200 along with a Summa Vinyl Cutter in a mezzanine in the recently refurbished building. This print system will enable the students to create large format images, prints, canvases, posters, point of sale, banners, window graphics and much more. The printing system is housed in what was the old canteen, now a freshly upgraded listed building that is open and modern fused with the architectural traditions of the 18th Century. It would be hard to find a more fitting place to help nurture a collection of young creative minds than this.
The GCSE courses (both PD and GP) require students to produce 'a standard of work which looks like it could be bought off the shelf'. Using Canon cameras, Apple Mac computers, and a variety of HP printing solutions, their students often produce better than shelf standard work.
One year eleven student produced a point of sale for Burton Snowboards, as a concept model. This proved so successful that a local winter sports shop used the POS to sell its snowboarding products.
They needed to have a printing system that would easily cope with both Mac and PC, but more importantly, something that the students would be able to get accustomed to quickly.
“We also wanted to ensure that the equipment we bought would be of the highest standard so students on the course get to work with professional equipment and learn how to use and respect them. As much as we chose all Canon cameras for digital photography, when it came to choosing a large format printer it seemed HP was the only way to go.” James continues.
John E Wright & Co Ltd is the largest specialist reseller in the midlands of large format print and imaging equipment and they are also the largest independent midlands-based specialist print service provider. Their state of the art print plant in Nottingham enables them to print just about anything you can think of, at any size and on just about any substrate – including wood, metal, fabrics, plastic, canvas and of course just about every kind of paper imaginable. This helped to demonstrate to James that they were the right supplier partner when it came time to decide on which photographic printer was right for the creative media suite.
History
The School is named after its founder, Thomas Cowley, who was born in 1625, came to live in Donington and died there in 1721. He was a landowner and decided to give the benefit of his wealth to charity so, in 1719, he established a school in the village.
The School's most famous student was Matthew Flinders, sailed with Captain Bligh and then sailed to Terra Australis in 1795. With his friend George Bass, he circumnavigated Tasmania. He returned in 1801 to make a full survey of Australia and was the first to circumnavigate the continent.
For many years the school was a Grammar School, but in 1949 it became a Secondary Modern School. In 1995 the status was again changed to provide for students of all abilities and their ethos is centered around inclusion and learning for all.
Whats another year?
Fast becoming standard practice in the UK, Thomas Cowley moved their GCSE students into Year 9 (used to be Year 10) and they now run their GCSEs over three years. Initially there was concern about what they should do with the students in the third year during this course and so the result is to allow students to select one, two or three pieces of industry standard software to become qualified in.
This means that after three years studying a Creative related subject, their creative media students would get not only a good academic grade, but also a professional qualification in programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Indesign - giving them real vocational skills and the edge when it comes to future interviews.
James continues, “We have had several successes like this over the years, with one student attending an interview knowing he hadn't got the predicted grades but able to seal a place at college owing to being technically skilled in the software that counted towards the course - namely Adobe Photoshop CS4, Illustrator CS4.”
And there’s more..
Not only are students benefiting from the new creative media suite, staff too have visited the room expressing an interest in using the new software and hardware. After school sessions are being made available to them to learn the ropes, as well as drop in lunchtime sessions.
A number of events are planned to raise the awareness of the new equipment to parents and local businesses too.
James concludes; “My hope is that students will be able to qualify in software delivery, then teach the teachers, parents and business people of the local community. What better way of showing you understand than to teach someone else!”