Textiles
Welcome to the Textiles Department
We are a dedicated and passionate team with a love for creativity! Our aim is to promote this wonderful subject and for the students to enjoy their learning.
Within Textiles at Altrincham College, we aim for all students to feel excited, able, comfortable, and confident in achieving, regardless of their prior attainment. Textiles is a specialism where you can be expressive, celebrate your individuality and explore new themes and create new ideas within an artistic, individual subject.
We promote and encourage this sense of accomplishment in the discovery of new innovative ideas, designs, and processes. Fashion and Textiles is in our everyday life, from the clothes we wear to the products we use, the beauty of Fashion and Textiles is that it is timeless, changing and adapting with us. Enhancing STEM skills is important as every great advancement in human history has come from a strong understanding of science, technology, and engineering. Giving our students an insight into this area is of great importance to us in Textiles, broadening students' minds to the different areas of our Fashion and Textiles discipline.
Meet the Textiles Department
| Name | Title |
| Mrs V Woods | Head of Textiles |
| Ms S Craig | Teacher of Textiles |
| Mrs K Bryan | Teacher of Art and Textiles (maternity cover) |
| Mrs S Deighton | Art and Textiles Technician |
Facilities
In the main school, we have a dedicated Textiles classroom that is fully resourced with a wide range of materials and specialist equipment to support creative learning.
Within our state-of-the-art Sixth Form centre, students benefit from access to a professional Fashion teaching studio. Spacious, modern, and fully equipped, the studio provides an exceptional environment for learning and creativity. GCSE lessons are also taught within this inspiring space, encouraging progression, confidence, and the development of advanced skills.
Enrichment
We have lots of exciting enrichment opportunities within the art department, including trips, artist workshops, student exhibitions and a community Art and Textiles club. Below is a list of what we currently offer:
Trips
- Year 7: Macclesfield Silk Museum
- Year 10: Manchester Museum
- Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair Visiting
Visiting Artist Nikki Parmenter Workshop
Exhibitions Key Stage 4/5 Exhibition held in June, combined with the Art department
Community Art and Textiles Club
This is an after-school club which takes place every week, where create artwork to be displayed around the school celebrating significant dates within the calendar. For example, Black History Month, Remembrance Day, Diwali, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Pride etc.
Competitions
- Yearly Christmas Card Competition
- School Production -T-shirt logo competition
Collaborations
Customised T-shirts for the annual school production, including all the cast, and wardrobe/costume guidance.
Careers
There are thousands of potential career paths and university courses that stem from Fashion and Textiles. The subject lays excellent foundations for a career in the creative industries.
These subjects enable students to develop a wide range of valuable and transferable skills, including research, creativity, communication, problem-solving, design development, practical making skills, independence, and presentation techniques. Students also gain experience in analysing trends, experimenting with materials, and developing their own creative identity.
Studying Textiles and Fashion can lead to a variety of exciting creative careers, including Fashion Designer, Textile Designer, Costume Designer, Stylist, Fashion Buyer, Visual Merchandiser, Illustrator, Pattern Cutter, Fashion Photographer, Garment Technologist, Retail Designer, and many more.
