Creating a new school uniform
The Modern Languages Department recently held a project for Upper II which combined both linguistic and design skills. The girls had to design a new school uniform and present their work in French! The criteria for the project was to say who the uniform was designed for (boys, girls, junior or senior), describe the uniform and explain why you came up with this particular design. The designs were judged on their visual aspect and also on the oral presentation.
Lucy Williams, Upper IIA, takes up the story:
‘I was really excited when I heard that we were going to create a school uniform for our French project. This was going to be a chance to be creative as well as learning some new French vocabulary. We were allowed to work either on our own or in pairs. I worked with my friend, Ana. First of all we discussed how our uniform would look and how we would display it. We then drew some designs and decided on colours of material. Our decision was that we would create a summer and winter uniform for primary school girls and our colour theme would be red and grey. We agreed that we would display our project using a large pinboard. Once we had obtained the necessary items for our uniform, using a variety of sources, including dolls’ clothes and photos, we started writing our script. We were told that six projects would be chosen and the girls who had created these would present them to the year group. Writing the script required heavy use of a French dictionary and we learnt lots of new words as a result.
I really enjoyed this project and Ana and I were delighted that we were chosen to make a presentation. However, even if this had not been the case, we would still have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and we are confident that next year’s Upper II will love it as much as we did!’
Lily Rai, Upper IIA, also enjoyed the experience:
‘My partner Anna and I had fun making the uniform. The part I enjoyed most was making the uniform and Anna coming to my house to work on it.
We both learnt a lot while we wrote the script and we had fun while we did it. We learnt new French words. I liked learning to say the types of fabric that we used in French. I learnt that Anna was an excellent partner to work with and we work well together. It was challenging writing the French script and sewing the bags but we managed to do it. I am so happy we won first place and Anna is too!
My advice for the girls who do the project next year is that you should start early and be as creative as you can!’
Prizes and certificates were awarded and the results were as follows:
1st prize: Lily Rai and Anna O‘Brien; Victoria Shkolyk and Ela Tomicka
2nd prize: Sofia Krunic and Maysa Ahmad Hitt
(There was no 3rd prize this year as there were two 1st prizes)
4th prize: Amber Connery and Priya Rodney
5th prize: Mathilde Thal and Annice Kerr
6th prize: Lucy Williams and Ana Suarez
Prizes were also awarded for effort to: Lillian Rodney and Phoebe Mills; Oluwafikayo Ajayi; Karuna Singh and Maki Mizunoe; Maryam Kamar; Marie-Anne Rutter.
Prizes for design went to: Valentina Stephens and Daisy Hardey; Grace Jones and Emma Sonderby; Grace Nason.
For participation awards were achieved by: Milan Dhillon and Isabella Le Bouedec; Sophiya Shahid and Adriana Krickic; Mehrain Marri; Alice Hill, Maggie Amos, Safiya Smith; Ananya Sharma; Arushi Misra.
Congratulations to all those who participated in such a challenging project. A great amount of time and hard work went into producing such great designs and is great testament to the talent and perseverance of our pupils.