Year 13 BTEC National Diploma Art and Design Trip to Berlin

Last month we took our year 13s to Berlin for 4 days between the 3rd and the 6th of October. Having been to Berlin two years before we were all very excited with the prospect of returning and getting to re-visit the city with a new set of students.



The students spent their 4 days in Berlin exploring the Art and Design heritage of one of europes oldest and most vibrant capitals with a main focus on using their experience to inform their upcoming specialist pathway projects. It wasn't just the Art and Design side of Berlin that we experienced but rather we made the social and historical sides of the city a major part of the trip with visits to the Check Point Charlie museum and the Jewish museum.



Berlins rich and diverse heritage gave our students a broad range of influences and start points for their projects with the Visual Arts pathway focusing on craft practices and social history whilst the Design pathway focused on the range of design styles influenced by Berlins East and West history. Not only did we get to see it's historical past but one of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Tacheles Gallery which is an artist commune that has taken over a derelict shopping mall in the Scheunenviertel area of Berlin. With all of the ethical, moral and recycling elements of the Design pathway project this was particularly useful for them.

All in all it was an amazing trip, the students and staff had a great time and enjoyed it thoroughly, with no problems other than a slight hiccup with some luggage on the way out it was one of the smoothest school trips we've ever taken!