As we start to head towards the end of the academic year, all of the CEP challenges (Cheltenham Educational Partnership) are now reaching a climax and last week it was the turn of our Y10 D&T Textile students - who have been taking part in this year's Wearable Art Challenge - with their presentation evening being held at The Wilson, the art gallery and museum in Cheltenham. 

The CEP is a joint venture between the state and independent schools in Cheltenham (plus other organisations such as the Council, The Festivals and the University), and was established with the specific aim of offering opportunities to our students that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access. And in that respect, not dissimilar to the recent 'slam' poetry competition, the Wearable Art challenge was a great showcase for what the CEP can do. The students have again been involved in a number of workshops since September, as normal based at different schools (with the initial one actually hosted by Balcarras), which have all been geared towards the students developing their finished garments, right the way through from the initial concepts to the actual creation of the garments. The visiting expert, Kate, is a local costume designer (working in film and television) and during the course of the year she also used her extensive list of contacts to have a number of 'guest' experts drop into the workshops, including a designer from Turnbull and Asser, the famous Saville Row tailors who have one of their factories in Gloucester.

The evening was the culmination of the whole year's work and was based around a fashion show with the students themselves modelling the designs. Considering the core theme of 'man verses nature' and the choice of materials, all of which had to be from recycled sources, it was perhaps inevitable that the designs were utterly unique and looked absolutely amazing - especially when the make-up artists had finished weaving their magic. 

Another aspect that was particularly striking was that later on in the same evening the University of Gloucester also had a fashion show, involving students from the degree course. And, such was the creativity on show from the CEP students, it was impossible to tell the difference between the two events.