End of Week 1

1. How are you settling in - how do you feel about being part of your tutor group?

I feel like I'm settling in well, and I like everyone in my tutor and I've made a solid group of friends which has made the experience of a completely new environment less scary and easier to adjust to, especially given that on my first day I didn't know a single person here. I love being in a group of people with the same interests as me and who are all motivated and inspired by art and design.

2. What are your first impressions of the environment? What are the differences to your previous learning and experience at A-Level?

I really like the new level of independence which is probably the main difference between here and my previous school. I had been at my old school for 7 years so I had got very used to small class sizes and being in quite a 'spoon-fed' environment where I knew everyone extremely well and was very much within my comfort zone, so it has been really exciting to come out of that and meet a whole group of new people who are all interested in similar things to me. It is also very exciting and also scary that we need to have a lot of self motivation to move forward with our projects, which I think will be a steep learning curve but one which I am excited to get on with.

3. What if anything, do you you need to find more about?

I would like to find out more about the extra curricular activities here, especially dance as I did a lot of that while I was at school and 6th form so I don't want to stop completely. I'd also like to look into life drawing classes, which I also have done previously to keep moving forward and building a strong portfolio. Also I want to find out more about courses beyond the foundation, and find out the best way to build my portfolio up so that I can get on to the course that I want.

4. Where do you see yourself currently in terms of art/design/media?

I think that currently I work best in a design based style, but I also love art and like the more lateral, experimental way that art projects progress. I want to go into costume design in the future, which suits me because it falls under design, with lots of space to be artistic within that. Media is something that I haven't really done a lot of before so I am excited to try that as well.

5. What are your strengths?

I would say that I am self motivated, as over the last few years I have taken on a variety of costumes design projects outside of my A levels, including costumes for dance competitions and festivals, as well as entire productions by myself which has been challenging in terms of time management but I am glad that I pushed myself at the time, because I am now in the position that I have small costume design business which means that I can continue to push myself and improve on the skills I will need later in life.

6. What are the areas you need to improve on?

I think that the main area that I will find challenging is media, as I haven't tried it much before, but I am excited to experiment with new things. I think that I will need to improve on writing down my thoughts and processes as they happen instead of ploughing on ahead to the end result, and then being forced to try and remember what I was thinking at the time.

7. What practical steps are you going to take to help do this?

One of the reasons why I have found this difficult in the past is because I find that I don't have the time to write them up nicely in a sketchbook so I just carry on without bothering, but to help with this I am going to keep a rough sketchbook (learning journal) along side my other books so that I can quickly note down what I am thinking without worrying about how I am presenting it.