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  • Textiles

    Curriculum Intent

    Key Stage 3

    The Textiles Curriculum aims to bring out students’ creativity, with practical skills and outcomes being the driving force. Students at KS3 need to be able to develop skills and confidence on the sewing machines. These skills will enable them to experiment with techniques and media in a highly creative and practical way. Students look at fashion designers and textile artists to inspire design decisions, and give them the opportunity to develop practical techniques and create response pieces in their own style. By learning these techniques and processes students are able to design and make a final response which is visually impactful.

    Key Stage 4

    The skills covered in KS3 form the basis of learning in Year 10 and Year 11. Students begin with a stimuli for their NEA project. From there, they are allowed freedom to explore this through research and experimentation with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes. Trips to art galleries enable students to develop their creative thinking and gather meaningful research and direction for their sketchbook. Students need to analyse textile artists and fashion designers work accurately by looking at style, techniques, mood and meaning. This all leads to a personal, meaningful and risk-taking final outcome which brings their intentions to life and demonstrates an understanding and interpretation to the theme.

    Curriculum Implementation

    Key Stage 3

    Year 7

    Year 8

    Year 9

    Making a holiday postcard inspired by the Textiles artist Louise O’Hara

    Skills learnt include:

    • To incorporate each assessment objective into designs
    • Safety in the Textiles room
    • Researching the work of Louise O’Hara and using and developing her techniques
    • Making holiday postcard in fabric
    • Setting up and using the sewing machine
    • Hand embroidery
    • Collage techniques
    • Use of decorative components

    Key objectives of this unit are:

    • Know the different parts of the sewing machine and to be able to set it up and use confidently for straight stitch
    • Experiment with hand embroidery skills, learning running stitch, back-stitch and blanket stitch and know how these could be used final make.
    • Understanding the importance of initial design ideas
    • Use peer evaluation to help focus final design idea and get further inspiration
    • Follow final design to make a successful holiday postcard using collage and hand stitching
    • Evaluate the outcome of holiday postcard and give ideas for improvement

    Making a decorative cushion cover using a range of decorative

    techniques based on the theme of ‘Food

    Skills learnt include:

    • To incorporate each assessment objective into designs
    • Cutting out fabric accurately
    • Construction of cushion using the sewing machine
    • Appliqué
    • Free machining
    • Reverse applique
    • Hand embroidery
    • Monoprinting
    • Decorative components
    • Hand embroidery stitches, cross stitch, whipping running stitch and chain stitch

    Key objectives of this unit are:

    • Recap from year 7 how to set up and use the sewing machine safely
    • Take a set of photographs which link to the theme of ‘food’.
    • Create patterns and templates and understand basic pattern markings
    • Be able to cut out main fabric of cushion using a paper pattern
    • Learning how to sew a corner and how to sew curves
    • Develop an awareness of the importance of quality control and know how to use a production plan correctly
    • Use bond-a-web for the technique of appliqué
    • Experiment with the technique of free machining

    Making a ‘Natural World’ inspired wall hanging using a range of

    decorative techniques, influenced by the work of Cas Holmes

    Skills learnt include:

    • Designing to meet specific design criteria
    • Revisiting all of techniques in Year 8 and building on these skills
    • Sublimation printing
    • Stencilling (fabric paints & crayons)
    • Fabric manipulation using the heat press
    • Hand embroidery stitches including bullion knots, cross- stitch and lazy daisy

    Key objectives of this unit are:

    • Research the work of Cas Holmes and identify techniques she uses.
    • Learn how to use the heat press safely and create further decorative techniques using the equipment.
    • Know how to create stencils from freezer paper and use to create a high-quality samples
    • Learn the technique of sublimation printing and how this could be used on wall hanging
    • Further develop hand embroidery and machine embroidery skills in the mixed media piece
    • Complete a final wall hanging based on the final design.
    • Evaluate final outcome and peer assess each other’s to suggest what went well and how you can improve

    Key Stage 4: GCSE (Edexcel)

    Year 10

    Year 11

    Students produce NEA work which makes up 60% of their final GCSE grade. The other 40% is made up of an externally set assignment.

    Intro project on Natural and Human to establish students strengths. This explores a range of assessment objectives and media.

    During Year 10 students will work on the project ‘Weathered’, by exploring and interpreting ideas through the media of textiles by exploring a wide range of decorative techniques. The project begins by investigating, using observations, photographs, sketches and drawings, and practical sample experimentation work. Students would need to look at relevant fashion designers and textiles artists to inform creative decisions and designs, before leading to them creating a final piece.

    Exam board: Edexcel

    Project Objectives and Assessment Objectives:

    A01 Develop ideas through investigations, demonstrating critical understanding of sources

    A02 Refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes

    A03 Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions as work progresses

    A04 Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and demonstrations understanding or visual language

    Students will continue to work on NEA’. They will explore the techniques of print, dye, fabric manipulation etc to build up a portfolio. They will have to use photographs and observational sketches as a starting point in order to explore and interpret the initial concept leading to a final piece. Students will also be required to complete an Externally Set Assignment, developing ideas and designs on a theme set by the exam board, culminating in a 10 hour timed practical exam.

    Within all projects across the 2 years, students will learn about:

    • Fabric selection for specific suitability from natural to synthetic fabrics
    • Dyeing methods – ombre, tye-die, batik, rust, marble, glue
    • Printing methods – block, stencil, sublimation, mono
    • CAD/CAM embroidery, lino
    • Fabric manipulation techniques – gathers, pleats and tucks
    • Decorative techniques including, applique, reverse applique, free machine embroidery, quilting, hand embroidery, couching, heat gun, dissolvable fabric, felting, slashing etc.

    Impact

    Key Stage 3

    Assessment

    KS3 is marked in line with the four assessment objectives: research; media experimentation; observe and recordings; and final piece. Work is assessed regularly throughout the projects, providing students with both a grade and written feedback. We also use effort stickers to enable students to see how hard they are working. Students are given opportunities to self-reflect and give their own targets based on marking, and there are opportunities throughout the project for peer assessment. During practical lessons students are encouraged to show work to each other, enabling them to offer advice and use ideas of others in their own development, which prepares them for KS4.

    Knowledge and skills

    Each project at KS3 provides opportunities for students to build up skills and confidence on the different pieces of textiles equipment. We have developed clear links between schemes of work from Year 7 through to Year 9 that see the development of practical skills. Students become familiar with the sewing machine, and in Year 7 they learn the different parts, how to thread up and how to use it. This is then developed in Year 8 and Year 9, with students using sewing machines to build up decorative skills. In each skill lesson, to support students' learning, teacher demonstrations are presented, allowing students opportunities to recap learning.

    By the end of Year 7 decorative skills learnt are:

    • Collage
    • Hand embroidery (running stitch, back stitch and blanket stitch)
    • Component embellishment

    By the end of Year 8 decorative skills learnt are:

    • Applique
      • Monoprinting
      • Free machine embroidery
      • Reverse applique
      • Hand embroidery (cross stitch, stem stitch and whipped running stitch)

    By the end of Year 9 decorative skills learnt are;

      • Stencil printing
      • Sublimation printing
      • Fabric manipulation techniques

    By the time students are in Year 9 they have such a wide range of knowledge and practical skills across all areas of textiles that they can use any of the skills from previous years on their final piece. This allows students to finish KS3 with the ability to produce challenging, refined and meaningful final pieces and prepares them for KS4.

    Key Stage 4

    Assessment

    At KS4 students are assessed throughout their Non-Examination Assessment work. They are assessed in line with the GCSE specification, focusing on the four assessment areas. Sketchbook work is checked and feedback offered both verbally and written. Verbal feedback can be done as one-to-one tutorials but also as a whole class discussion.

    Teacher targets given regularly and students given opportunities to set their own targets. Students are given opportunities to address their targets in each lesson and time is built into the curriculum to allow for this. Peer assessment is built into lessons to encourage sharing of ideas and work.

    Knowledge and skills

    At GCSE students use all the knowledge and skills developed across KS3 to create and incorporate into their NEA projects. They will learn the importance of research into textiles artists and fashion designers to inspire the development of ideas and skills. Using their bank of practical skills learnt at KS3 they are able to create responses in the style of their chosen artists and designers, while building up further more challenging decorative skills such as:

    • Sublimation printing
    • Marble dying, glue dying and rust dying
    • Free machine embroidery into more risk taking materials, such as, dissolvable fabric, glue, mesh wire.
    • Felting
    • Heat press fabric manipulation
    • CAD/CAM embroidery

    They will understand that using a variety of media, materials and techniques can be used in relation to their own creative intentions and chosen area of study. Accumulating with a meaningful, risk taking and challenging final piece.