Workshop: GCSE Japanese Culture

Video gaming has been a major industry in Japan since the 1970s, and Nintendo is one of the most successful companies. This interactive workshop is at aimed at School/College pupils studying Japanese at GCSE or A-Level, as well as those who are interested in Japanese language and culture, but who have not had the opportunity to study the language. The workshop will allow pupils to learn about the history of the Nintendo Video Games Company through the years, starting in 1889 as a Hanafuda card manufacturer, leading to the present day as the world’s largest video game company by revenue. It will also introduce them to the world of the Anime industry, in relation to video gaming. The focus of the workshop will be on reflecting on cultural influences, language and creativity. Pupils in years 10, 11 and 12 are welcome to apply. Knowledge of Japanese is not a requirement, as in addition to developing cultural knowledge, the session will allow students to acquire some Japanese vocabulary. Additionally, it will give them the opportunity to learn about Japanese Language and Culture courses at a University level.

Get Ahead Extended Conference

Are you an undergraduate applicant starting your studies at Lincoln, University of New York this autumn 2015? You’re invited to Get Started Extended – Reading and Writing for Academic Purposes, a workshop to prepare you for the opportunities and challenges that come with studying. This session is an introduction to reading and writing for academic purposes. You will consider how to cope with the large amount of reading expected at undergraduate level, understanding your reading lists and using the Library Catalogue. The session will also provide the opportunity to check your academic English skills, focusing on what makes English academic, as well as introducing you to the style and conventions of academic writing.

Future Focus – Career Workshop

Whether you’re feeling stuck in your current job or are looking to fast-track your progression, this workshop is designed to help you explore how further study can have a positive impact on your future career. This workshop will help you:
  • Gain a more in-depth understanding of yourself to better inform your career decisions
  • Learn about your skills, personality, values and motivations
  • Apply this knowledge of yourself to different career options
  • Know how to find out whether the course(s) you are considering is a stepping stone to the career you want, including information about the graduate destinations of Birkbeck students to inspire you
Please note that this session does not contain specific information about available courses or funding options. If you are a current student you can attend our careers’ workshops on Wednesdays. The Future Focus workshop is one of a series of workshops to support prospective students throughout their application to Birkbeck.

Year 10 Parent Learning Event

We hope that your child has had a successful year to date. We are making preparations for next academic year and would like to share our plans with you. We invite you to join us on Thursday 18th June at 6.00pm for refreshments. We are holding this event to get some feedback on our proposals for change and to get some ideas for the future which you can help us shape. We want to share thoughts on:
  • The structure of the school day
  • Our pastoral restructure
  • Our reading school initiative
Parent Forum is, as always, an opportunity for you to bring any other matters you would like to raise on the evening. To allow us to plan for the right numbers please reply to support@lunartheme.com with your name, your child’s name and the number of seats you would like. This event is for adults and your child does not need to attend. If you have any views for the Parent’s Forum but are unable to attend, please do still contact me on the same email. We look forward to meeting as many of you as possible on the 18th. KS4 Learning Event – Core Subjects. During these events, subjects leaders are on hand to provide a presentation about the demands, dates and components of each core subject area. Exam scheduling has undergone some changes over recent years and exams do not all happen in the summer of Year 11 anymore. Having a good overview of the pressure points through the years helps put parents in control and allows them to support their child effectively. The evening also explores how the target setting process works to enable parents be an integral part of the process.

Camera Work – Art Exhibition 2017

This exhibition is presented at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center and supported by the  MFA Photography program in the  School of Art, Media, and Technology.  For centuries, artists used lenses to create images; but the invention of photography in 1839 indissolubly linked the lens–based image and the camera. Now, a quarter-century into the digital era, our very understanding of photography and film have undergone a massive transformation. The fifteen artists in this exhibition each received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the photography program at Parsons School of Design; that is to say, they are all “photographers.” Yet few, if any, of them transcribe the world using chemistry, cellulose, and emulsion. Rather, they use various digital imaging and video processes to create their works. What these artists have in common is the camera, even if only the one on their iPhone. Their employment of the lens as a fundamental tool to make their art positions them within the photographic tradition, and their varied practices as photography. Their art is camera work. That such diverse and compelling work shares an origin in lens-based technologies may well speak to the importance of photography as a unique and enduring discipline. These artists’ practices encompass not only framed prints on the wall or moving images on a glowing screen, but also video installations, mock natural-history dioramas, and Instagram feeds. Their art also finds its place in publications—self-published, issued by commercial publishers, or even produced by a collective, Conveyor, founded by other graduates of the program. This emphasis on the book and the magazine as the natural home for their work may seem surprising given the emphasis of the digital age on the seamlessly virtual and ephemeral, but it nonetheless marks this generation of artists as concerned with making their art accessible, yet unwilling to completely forgo the tangible object. At the turn of the last century, Alfred Stieglitz’s pioneering publication Camera Work began by championing Pictorialism, the already old-fashioned idea that photography could prove itself a fine art by imitating painting, but ended a distinguished run by presenting the most modern photographic vision of its time. Some of the artists in this exhibition include sly references to both Pictorialism and Modernism in their works, and many rely in part on the printed page to disseminate their ideas, but while these photographers may keep one eye on the legacy of the past, their practices bring camera work into the future. Including the work of: Jun Ahn, Berk Çakmakçı, Alison Chen, Xiao Chen and Yichen Zhou, Bobby Davidson, John Deamond, Nathan Harger, Erik Madigan Heck, Brigitte Lustenberger, Joy McKinney, Charlie Rubin, Keith Telfeyan, José Soto, and Marie Vic. Curated by Sarah Hasted and Joseph R. Wolin.