Mrs Margaret Maunder - Head of Department
Mrs Maunder started her career at Heathside School where she rose to Head of Curriculum for Art and Design Technology. After 16 years she moved to the private sector and taught textiles at Cranleigh, and photography, graphics, art and textiles at St Catherines’ Twickenham. Recently she has built her own studio at home to further her own work. She has joined the school and brought a wealth of knowledge with her from her extensive career, which complements the excellent work already done within the department.
email: Margaret.Maunder@stcatherines.info

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Mrs Susan Cooper
Having trained at Bath in Fashion and Textiles she has enjoyed a long teaching career, in both Art and Textile departments. She adores being creative and has always been a practitioner alongside also being a mother and teacher. With her Textile work she has taken part in various exhibitions and Surrey Open studios as well as sharing her knowledge through workshops for the Cranleigh Arts and Crafts society. She is an avid collector of vintage fabrics and haberdashery and loves to incorporate recycling into her work and teaching.
email: Susan.Cooper@stcatherines.info

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Mrs Jo Barratt - Technician
email: joanne.barratt@stcatherines.info

Examination Board: Edexcel

Why study Textiles?

Textile Design is a dynamic and highly creative subject that encompasses many disciplines in Art and Design. The field of Textiles is a broad and exciting one that combines drawing and painting with print, felt making, fabric manipulation, machine embroidery and constructed textiles. During the course you are encouraged to develop and build on your creative strengths through an expressive and experimental approach. This allows for a high level of creative individuality. Final outcomes are a personal decision arrived at through rigorous investigation and can take any form.

Through the study of Textiles you have the opportunity to follow pathways into many areas of design.

Course Content

The start of the course involves the exploration of a theme using analysis and research to develop skills and knowledge in design, colour and stitch techniques. Contextual studies in art and design are required as a written element and will support your practical investigations.

You will have opportunities to generate and develop ideas, research primary and contextual sources, record practical and written observations, experiment with media and processes, and refine ideas towards producing personal resolved outcomes.

Assessment

A Level: 
60% Personal Investigation, 40% Externally Set Assignment: Practical work and a personal study; a written essay of 2000 - 3000 words - assessed as an independent unit: 15 hour examination

AS Level Textiles

Examination Board: Eduquas

This course will appeal to anyone who has an interest in Art & Design and textiles. The course will be tailored to the strengths and interests of the individual students. Some candidates like to follow  fashion based routes and others more fine Art installation based route.  

Course Content

The course is designed to encourage an adventurous and enquiring approach to textiles. Students will research artists and designers relevant to their study both historical and contemporary, embracing a range of ideas and processes. The course covers a wide range of techniques and approaches Fine art, Fashion, dyed, printed and constructed textiles. The AS specification enables the students to submit one coursework project which is 100% of the assessment. The students will develop their work throughout the course from a personal starting point and they will write about related to artists and designers.  

POST A LEVEL OPTIONS

Students can apply for an Art Foundation year or apply to the Universities direct. There are many degree options available in creative and technology based courses.  

There are many routes available to work in the fashion and textile industries: 

• Design / Buyer 
• Fashion designer 
• Fashion buyer 
• Knit buyer/designer 
• Woven buyer/designer 
• Merchandiser  
• Technologist  
• Fashion Manager  
• Women’s wear 
• Men’s wear  
• Children’s wear 
• Sports wear designer 
• Accessories 
• Footwear 
• Trimming buyer 
• Fabric sourcing 
• Bridalwear 
• Evening wear  
• Tailoring 
• Beading and embellishment designers  
• Couturiers 

• AQA 4204 60% Controlled Assessment 40% Externally Set Task
• Length of Examination: 10 hours (four week preparatory period)

GCSE Textiles is an exciting and challenging course that explores art and design through the medium of creative Textiles. You will learn new skills such as batik, tie dye and print methods and build upon other techniques of stitched and constructed textiles such as felt making, appliqué, quilting, hand and machine embroidery.

• The course is designed to develop your individual creative strengths.
• A number of visits to galleries and exhibitions are arranged throughout the course.

The assessment objectives are:-

• A01: Develop ideas through investigations informed by contextual and other sources demonstrating analytical and cultural understanding.
• A02: Refine ideas through experimenting and selecting appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes.
• A03: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions in visual and/or other forms.
• A04: Present a personal, informed and meaningful response demonstrating analytical and critical understanding, realising intentions and where appropriate, making connections between visual, written, oral or other elements.

Studying Textiles at GCSE can lead into a range of exciting career opportunities including fashion/textile design, interior design, fashion promotion, costume/theatre design.

Textiles is a specialist subject and requires specialist subject knowledge and expertise which the girl’s learn at St Catherine’s. Textiles is taught throughout the School and is a very exciting and rewarding subject.

On entry at 11 the girls are introduced to a variety of techniques and processes at different points in the course; each one will aid in their creative development. These processes are fun, with plenty of hands on experimentation and construction from traditional embroidery skills to dyeing, silk painting, appliqué to a more individual creative exploration at U4.

Most projects start with a design brief for inspiration. In U4 this becomes a more personal investigation into their creative strengths; building upon the skills gained in previous projects.

U3 Embroidered bag

• Skills: hand embroidery, design work, dyeing in a microwave and construction techniques.

L4 Silk painted panel and appliqué

• Skills: introduction to colour and silk painting, how to use the sewing machine for straight and zigzag stitches, how to use free machine embroidery creatively. Layering and embellishment with appliqué techniques.

U4 Creative Sketchbook using the theme of 'Colour'.

The final piece will be developed from their investigation into colour and different textile techniques:

• Skills: fragment trapping, felt making, soft edge appliqué, printing, machine embroidery.
• Sketchbook: sketchbooks are used for recording, research and developing ideas in all year groups.
• Dyeing Techniques: print paste dyes, stencils, breakdown printing

Every year the Textiles department visit the annual Knitting & Stitching Show in Alexandra Palace, London in October.  All students studying GCSE and A Level will attend this as it is a vital research opportunity to meet contemporary textile artists who exhibit at the show. 

TEXTILES CLUB

This is a weekly club aimed at middle school classes. This club enables students to take part in new projects and trying out new materials and techniques.  

AFTER SCHOOL CLUB 

This is a twice-weekly after school club where students can extend their class work or finish up any outstanding work.