Technology showcase and fashion show

This year, guests at the Technology showcase were greeted by canapés, served and prepared by students, as well as the usual wine or fruit juice. Members of the Year 7 and Year 8 cooking club had been using their lunchtimes to prepare sausage rolls and cheese straws, whilst a group of Year 10 students had cooked pizza puff pinwheels and crudités and dips, and were proudly offering them round whilst everyone congregated in the Cortile, where the showcase took place.

Parents, friends, teachers and students appreciated the display of Computer Science students’ work alongside the products produced in STEM clubs. The brightly coloured vehicles made by the Year 7 Hacksaw club really stood out this year, and it was wonderful to see the celebration of our STEM scholars’ achievements at The Rotary Tournament from February this year – our Team 1 girls won the award for the best portfolio, and Team 2 won the award for overcoming difficulties.

The Textiles department ran our sixth annual fashion show, organised by Year 9 students, and the girls modelled their own decorated skirts. Other year groups’ Textiles work, such as GCSE, A Level garments and some Year 8 girls’ shorts were also seen on the catwalk modelled by the girls from various year groups.

The theme was ‘Pursuing cheerfulness’, linked with one of our school’s Mary Ward characteristics. The Year 9 girls came up with their own themes that they used to inspire their skirt designs: ‘Walking in the park’, ‘Emojis’, ‘Kaleidoscope’, ‘Stripes and other’, ‘Crazy colours and patterns’ and ‘Scandi dandy’. We also featured the fabulous work of our GCSE and A Level students from fashion items such as children’s wear, dresses, skirts, jackets to even a modern vintage bag. Mrs Maria Kakengi’s historic ball gown was also modelled by a Textiles scholar, Annie Q., on the catwalk. 

Textiles scholars played key roles in this year’s show by designing a poster and tickets, modelling, running backstage, and assisting on stage. The featuring artists on the night were a dance group organised by our Upper Sixth student, Estelle C., who opened the show with an upbeat modern jazz dance piece.

The fashion show generated £350 from the voluntary contributions at the end of the show for Teenage Cancer Trust, in memory of talented A Level Textiles student, Grace Deng, who sadly lost her battle with cancer at the age of 19. 

Take a look at the Technology showcase and fashion show gallery here.