The Dance Department welcome you to our Dance Appreciation Evening on Tuesday 18^th March 2014, 6:30pm – 8:00pm.

You will see a preview of many AS and GCSE Dance exam pieces as well as guest appearances from Year 9 Dance Club and GVC Dance Club.

Please contact Mrs Ward for tickets at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Click here to download more information

Stratton Upper School Art Department was a hive of creative activity last weekend as it held its annual Arts Weekend, which provides a whole host of classes and workshops for students in order to allow them to experience new creative opportunities or the chance to revisit and refresh skills and techniques. It was also a valuable opportunity for students to add to their coursework as the work produced may be included in their GCSE and A level coursework portfolios.

Last year, after opening courses to members of the general public for the first time and receiving a multitude of requests for more, Miss Lesa Welch (Head of Department), decided to repeat the opportunity again this year, making it available to complete novices as well as the more experienced artist. The Art, Design and Photography team (Miss Bell, Miss Searley-Denkiewicz, Miss Simpson and Mrs Ellis), Miss Welch and two guest artists – Vanessa Stone and Gill Collinson, provided a whole range of creative experiences, including life drawing, printing, paper cuts, claywork, computer-manipulated portraits and textile exploration.

Pencil Colourful Fabric Family Trees Class	Watercolour life drawings

Over 100 students and members of the public enjoyed the various workshops during the course of the weekend. One student commented that it was ‘great to be able to produce lots of new and different work which is relevant to my coursework’ and members of the public remarked that they enjoyed learning new techniques, using different approaches and materials and appreciated the balance between receiving expert guidance and having the freedom to produce independent finished pieces as they grew in confidence.

Student work – Manipulated Portraits class	Gill Collinson introduces the paper cloth workshop

Sandra Birnie, who attended one of the textile-based classes commented, ‘I thoroughly enjoyed the day. It was inspirational and absorbing!’

Students get to grips with paper cutting	Clay plates and pots workshop

Click here to see more photos from the event.

There are plans to hold an exhibition of work produced during the workshops at a later date, so watch this space!

Over 300 schools entered the English Speaking Union Schools’ Mace competition back in October. I am delighted to say that Stratton, represented by Andrew Catherall and Toby Milligan, competed in the regional final on 3rd March, meaning that they had made it through to the last 32 schools in the country.

In our heat were Eton College and Westminster School, as well as Haileybury College, Berkhamsted Collegiate School and Queen Elizabeth’s Barnet amongst others. I am delighted to say that Stratton finished third in the competition last night, behind only Westminster and Eton.

This marks a very significant achievement for the school and we are very proud of Andrew and Toby and the hard work they have put into this competition. Well done Andrew and Toby!

Mr Luxton