This month I have started on a new project and so far it’s going really well. Part of my brief is to explore different avenues of photography so I have started exploring with different cameras including the camera phone and my iPod. I have been using them to take a lot of photos with my models Chanelle and Tristan.  We ventured into Workington town and shot some photographs of them both around there, they all turned out really well and I enjoyed doing them so I’m going to do some more. Tristan is also a blogger – he is on the performing arts course, you should take a look at his blog as well.

I have also created horror photography for this project, this involved using red paint to create a picture to shock the audience, hopefully it will when I exhibit my work at the presentation to my tutors. They are simply of me and my friend Jordan covered in red paint which has made the horror scene look realistic.  This project has different elements that need to be covered; I have already done horror and portraits and am looking forward to including other themes.  I think I will theme my next pictures on romance and life using couples.

I was really pleased the other day when my tutor Maggie told me she had got me some liquid light and some sunagraphic paper, these are two techniques that I have been dying to try out.  The sunagraph paper was easy to use, you just place your image or object on and then expose to sunlight and rinse to create the image.  The liquid light was not as easy we had to read the instructions three times and ended up failing the first attempt, but once we got the hang of it the two others that we created were amazing.

As stated in my last blog my art work was going up in a gallery in Cumbria, which involved a lot of work. I made 7 new canvases just for this, they were all set up and priced but unfortunately none of them sold, never mind I am sure I will sell them! I also didn’t pass my essay recently; there are a few things that I need to redo so I am also working on them at the moment. I am not going to let it set me back though, I will look at the positive and use the experience as a learning curve.

So that’s it for me for this blog, take a look at the photos of my work and I will see you next time.

Stacey x

I’ve been up to all sorts over the last month. In college my class had a visit from an actor called David McCreedy who has starred in Shameless and loads of films. David spent the whole day with us, giving us advice and he organised a few drama exercises to help us improve our acting abilities. It was good to meet someone who has that kind of experience and he gave me some good advice.

My class also recently entered the ‘Cumbria’s Got Talent’ competition at Kendal College. We performed our Lady Gaga ‘Born This Way’ routine and some of the class entered as solo artists too. One of my friends performed a ballet piece and another sang Amy Winehouse’s version of Valerie. Although we didn’t win anything it was great to take part and we all really enjoyed the day. The competition was really tough, but at the end of the day that is something you have to put up with if you want to work in this industry.

I’ve been thinking more about my plans for next year and I have decided that I want to continue on with studying Performing Arts, but at a higher level. College has been like a stepping stone for me to move onto a higher qualification and I am hoping to be accepted onto a level 3 course at Blackpool and the Flyde College. I am going to miss my family and friends loads but I also have family down there and I’m sure I’ll make some new friends. Some famous actors have done the course that I am hoping to do, including some Coronation Street cast members. I plan to go to as many auditions as I can whilst I’m at college there so watch this space.

Outside of college I have been having regular singing lessons where I have been working on vocal exercises with my instructor to strengthen my voice and work on wobbly notes. My instructor says I have a good voice but I need to work on how to use it. Talking about singing; I watched The Brits on TV recently and I have become rather obsessed with Nicki Minaj’s performance. I think she is amazing and has a really good voice. I do think she is slightly crazy and copies off Lady Gaga a little bit but I still love her.

I have also been helping one of the art students with her college work recently. Stacey (who is also one of our bloggers) is working on a big photography project and I have been doing some modelling for her photos. I have also been thinking up some new hair colours and styles as I want to try something new and different. I am open to suggestions, so what colour should I try next?

Due to the cold and wet weather a lot of my football games in the past 2 months have been called off, meaning that now the sun is begin to shine it’s time to start making up for lost time on fixtures which means mid-week matches as well as on the weekend. Yesterday after college, I travelled with Workington Reds to Colne (near Manchester) for an 8:30PM kickoff meaning that we didn’t get home till around 2:00AM in the morning. The bus journey was made even more unbearable when we came back onto the coach after suffering a 3-1 defeat. I played alright but my finishing wasn’t working against the keeper and I found it hard to get past him.

Over the past week or two, I’ve noticed that summer is just around the corner; giving me the “festival feeling”.  Festivals make my summers and without them I would have less to look forward too so this year I’ve bought tickets for ‘Leeds Festival 2012’ which is the biggest rock festival in the UK and also ‘Kendal Calling 2012’ which is a small festival only 45 minutes from where I live and I’ve been going there for the last 2 years making this time round my hatrick. As well as me and my 3 best friends hitting the festivals this summer, hopefully I will have past my driving test and buy the car that I’ve wanted since I was 11. A 1974 California Super beetle (just the like the one from the film Herbie.) This car is older than my own mother and reaches a whopping speed of 72MPH (notice the sarcasm) but all in all its a car with great character and you know that no one else is going to have one likes yours in such a small town.

Now that I have a new job, things are going to get a lot tougher with juggling my College, Work, Social and Football lifestyles so that each ones gets the right amount of attention but it’s nothing I can’t handle.

Lately I have been thinking about what I am going to do next year when I finish my course, my first idea was to apply for work on the cruise ships, then I thought that I would like a bit more experience before going onto a ship for 9 months. So I’ve been thinking about maybe getting a job in a salon part time and also working self employed doing mobile hairdressing the days I’m not in the salon. Recently I have also noticed that there aren’t any male hairdressing teachers at college and because I am really interested in all the theory side of hairdressing as well as the practical side, I have been wondering how I could possibly get some teaching experience. Another reason I have been considering teaching is because of the tutors at college and how supportive they have been; they were all really patient towards me when I was struggling in one of my subjects. I would like to do the same and help other people develop their skills and learn a career.

Recently outside of college I have been working at the pub which has been quiet lately because it’s a tourist area so is usually only busy over the holidays. As it’s been quiet I have managed to go to Leeds to see my girlfriend a bit more as she is studying at Leeds Met University. I have also been sorting out plans for the summer (because I will need to celebrate finishing my three year course) and so far I am planning to go to Kendal Calling music festival again and I have also got tickets to go and watch the World Matchplay Darts in Blackpool.

One of my interests outside of college is football and I very interested in seeing how Stuart Pearce will do as the caretaker England manager, I think if Harry Redknapp can’t do it over summer then Pearce is the best man for the job. I think he has done great with the under 21s so I would like to see him bring a few of the younger players through in to the first team, but what do I know I’m not a trainee football manager I’m a trainee hairdresser ha-ha!

I’m Penny.  I am in year 11 at Westlake’s academy and currently studying two courses, Motor Vehicle and Hairdressing, at Lakes College through the School Links programme. I am doing really well at school, I have just passed my first GCSE in Maths of all subjects; chuffed is an understatement!

I’ve got two jobs – I work as a waitress at The Falcon club in Egremont and as a weekend receptionist at Savvy Beauticians. I love earning my own money and being able to pay for things myself – it does usually all go into Topshop but that’s the bonus of making my own money.  I also think it’s very important to earn your own money as it teaches me to manage my money as well.

I used to play rugby union for Egremont but it’s not much of a popular sport with the girls as it is with boys so now I only play rugby for school.  It may seem that I am tomboy with my interests in cars and rugby but I am not!  My best friend and I, Rhianne, met on the first day of school; we love all the girly things such as hair extensions, fake tan and make-up.

I spend one day a week at the college and do my Motor Vehicle class in the morning and Hairdressing class in the afternoon.   I know that the courses are complete opposites but I wanted to see which area motivated me the most because my interests are varied.

I decided to try the Motor Vehicle department because I watch Emmerdale and seen Debbie Dingle set up her own garage and thought I wouldn’t mind trying the course.  My mam and dad were really supportive from the start with my choices and still are but a few people did not expect me to do this type of course, I think this is because I like things such as hair extensions and all those type of things , but they can now see that I really enjoy it and accept it.   I have found that there is a good atmosphere when working with a team full of boys, the banter is usually funny and there is less chance of arguments breaking out which can be common amongst a group of girls.

I am stronger when I am doing the practical side of the class, once I am shown what to do I am happy to work away but I do find the theory side quite difficult.  The class tutor in Motor Vehicle, Peter Edgar, has been really supportive and encouraging; he’s always there to help us when we are stuck!

I choose hairdressing in the afternoon because it was one of my dream jobs when I was younger.  I look forward to it every week.  I love being able to create new styles and try things that I cannot do on my own hair.   We are able to let our imaginations go when we are creating new hairstyles and I love the freedom it can give you to be creative.  I really enjoyed having a go at creating a Halloween themed hairstyle – it was fantastic and my favourite part so far!

I am always changing my mind about what I want to do when I leave school, I have gone from wanting to be a mechanic to a paramedic and now I want get a apprenticeship as a printer at AMCOR – It sounds like it will be really interesting and challenging.

Both courses are very different to each other but that way I can learn different types of skills.  In the future I am hoping that the flexibility of my skills will also help me work with and feel comfortable around different types of people.  I also want to prove that girls can do a boys course too and vice-versa. Everyone’s equal!

Penny.x

Well, it’s come to the end of the first term in 2012 and I have had a good year at college already.  It was a bit of a struggle in January getting back into the swing of things after the Christmas holidays, but after a few days my routine started falling back into place.

I had a great Christmas with my family, there were eight of us on the day and I was really pleased with all my presents.  I got perfume, clothes, a cool phone and best of all, a new laptop!  It was a great break, spending time with my friends and family and just chilling out, but in truth I did get a bit bored so it was good to come back!

I feel I have really come on this term and feel more confident even though I still find some parts of the course challenging.  We’ve just been taught how to make a jig; a jig is a device that helps to master pipe work and we have been practicing the bends needed for sinks and toilets.  When we built our jig we then had to do a pressure test to see if there were any leaks that needed repaired.  I was delighted that my jig did not need leak!

So as you can see I have been enjoying the practical side of things and I am really pleased with how I have been coming on with the theory.  I mentioned in my last blog that Anne Nutter has been giving me support with this and she’s helped me a lot; things seem a lot clearer and I don’t get as easily distracted so I can understand how the theory links to the practical parts of the course.

Well that’s me for now -  when I blog again I will tell you how the next term has panned out for me and hope that I can tell you more about how I am coming on with my course.

Speak to you again.

Kirsty X

Over the break I went to two staff parties, one of them was just a night out with everyone I work with at my part time job in a pub… the other (with my workmates from my hairdressing placement) was crazy!

Last month on my placement I was assessed on a short graduation cut and a colour correction, both turned out well as my client didn’t leave the salon with a skin head or green hair ha-ha. I also had to do my first hair cut on a child; a young lad came in to just have a trim. I was actually quite nervous because kids don’t sit still; I didn’t want to cut his ear off. The boy’s parents were happy with what I had done, so I think my placement is going well so far.

In college we have been learning about all the different cuts and styles, now we can get assessed on them and another part of my folder can be completed. In class we have also been focusing on pin ups and wedding hair, I have never been very comfortable or confident doing these, but after a few hours learning the basics I have started to really enjoy doing them. I think I will be able to get these marked off my folder within the next few weeks which I am very happy about.

I have also recently finished the biggest written assignment in Level 3 Hairdressing which was about cutting women’s hair to create a variety of looks. The essay was a few weeks work but it wasn’t too hard, I’m glad it’s over with now, just a few more assignments left to do this year.

Check out my blog next month to see how I have been getting on with my assignments and what I been getting up to.

Nicky

Since my last blog I have enjoyed spending time with my family over the Christmas holidays. I have quite a large family; there were 32 of us over at my auntie’s house for Christmas dinner! You might think that sounds stressful but it was great! We all chipped in with the cooking, my Grandad was in charge of the turkey and I was in charge of the roast potatoes. It was really nice to catch up with everyone and we all had a good craic. I got loads of good presents including DVDs, gift vouchers and some ‘smellies’, I also got a new casserole dish which I have used already to cook a braised steak.

Back at College I have had another practical exam where I had to cook a full roast chicken and gravy from scratch. To be honest I found it quite easy. I have always cooked roasts with my family on a Sunday so I have had lots of practice. I have also been enjoying working in the College restaurant La Rue. On restaurant open days I help to set up the tables, stock up the bar, serve customers and at Christmas I helped choose what went on the menu. I can’t wait until next year when I will be on the Level 2 course and will hopefully be more involved in cooking meals at the restaurant.

I’ve been busy in class recently working on the latest assignment. We are learning all about the different kitchen equipment, so soon I will be fully trained up to use the blender, meat slice and more. I haven’t been enjoying my functional skills lessons so much this month, I’d much rather be in the kitchen. The tutors have been great though and my spelling and writing are coming along much better.

I’ve been working hard at College and not just for my course; as well as blogging I am also a student rep for Level 1 students.  This means I talk to other students and try to resolve any problems they may be having at the College. Myself and some of the other students found the exam timetable a bit confusing so I plan to bring this up at the next meeting.

With everything going on at College I have to make sure I make time to relax as well. Sometimes I stay a bit late at College and go up to the quiet room in the LRC or I hire a laptop and sit by the window up there, I get lots more work done. I am looking forward to spending more time with my friends over the next few weeks. Most of my friends work full time, and with how busy I have been at College recently it can sometimes be difficult to meet up.

At home I have been watching Jamie Oliver’s shows, I think what he did to help make school dinners more healthy is brilliant. Before it was always chips, chips and more chips but I think it is important for people to eat vegetables from a young age. On some of the shows they were eating pizza for their breakfast every day! Can you imagine?!

This week I’m looking forward to helping out at a College open evening, I will be answering questions about my course and showing people around the College. I hope I can be helpful. Find out in my next blog how it went.

Talk to you soon,

Kearon

Over the Christmas period I’ve been over in France working for my dad in a ski chalet and spending my free time improving on my snowboarding. I’ve been entered into the BRITS snowboard festival in Laax, Switzerland where I will compete against world ranked boarders in the boardercross event which takes place in March if I can get the time off college. In the past 7 weeks, I’ve been in France for 5 weeks which has made it my best winter season so far; majority of those days were spent in the snow park on Les Grande Montets.

Although I’ve had an amazing time living out in France for the winter I’ve missed my football and since been selected into the Workington Reds reserves team.  I’ve been really wanting to improve in my football, which is hard seeing as both my passions are in two different countries. Now that I’m back for a while I can knuckle down and get this coursework finished and get back into the gym and start training again. Because I’ve had time off college to go and improve my snowboarding I do have a little bit of coursework to complete,  but my tutors have been awesome in giving me all the information I need to get the coursework in and on time.

The college lifestyle has fully set in now but the qualities of coming here still remain; such as my friends in my sports course are still with me all time and can help me out with the work I’ve missed. Other qualities are that the practical side of things such as football training and gym work are held on a regular basis which I wasn’t expecting due to the heavier work load. It’s good for motivation when there is plenty of work to do and also trying to balance it with my training is a challenge but I can handle it.

I’ve had a busy few weeks since my last blog. In December I was involved in writing some of the lyrics that were included into a song recorded by a few of the Lakes College students and staff. We performed the song as a ‘flash mob’ at the hub in Workington town centre to give the Christmas shoppers a taste of what Performing Arts is like at College, the performance was filmed and is being used to promote the College on the internet; I loved every moment of it.

I was also in a carol service with the other members of the group for staff at the College on their training day. I put together some of the moves involved for the first performance of Christmas Tree by Lady Gaga featuring Space Cowboy and I chose the song (obviously!) I was dressed up as a Christmas elf at the time and it was a really fun performance, nothing too big to put together but a more chilled out act, which is completely different to any other production we  have done so far ha-ha.

Over Christmas I normally spend the break on holiday.  Instead this year I have just been having fun nights out around Whitehaven and Workington with friends, every time the DJ played Gaga I ran to the dancefloor. I also went on a big shopping spree during the January sales (I went straight to River Island) ha-ha, I just love clothes!

Back at college I have been working on developing my warm up exercises and have added a few games to the techniques which may help to relax and loosen my muscles so I don’t end. I have also been gaining some real experience by travelling to various local theatres such as Theatre by the Lake and The Carnegie Theatre. I loved going backstage and learning about the history of the theatres. In class I have been particularly enjoying lessons on ‘dance’ which has involved putting together a dance, teaching it to the others and then performing it and hoping it goes as well as how we hoped it would.

As much as I have loved the dance lessons my favourite element of the course has been the classes focusing on drama. Every time it pops up I get really excited and jump at the chance to put forward my ideas on how we could make it perfect.

Recently my course has included a lot of non practical work as well, which I admit I don’t enjoy as much. I regularly write in a journal about what I’m getting up to and there have been a couple of other written assignments too. I have gained the perspective that working hard on my written work will gain me the highest marks (more than my practical and performances.) I have been working more on my assignments at home and inviting others from the group over; we make time to help each other out and work on our assignments.

In the news recently there has been a story that caught my eye; there is a girl from Whitehaven who has studied Performing Arts and has been accepted into a big stage school in Hollywood, Los Angeles. She needs to raise a lot of money to be able to pay for the school fees and the story has been all over the local news as she tries to raise funds. I am uber jealous and would love to do something similar once I complete my course, it would be hard getting over the obstacle of the gigantic school fees but for now I can dream.

Don’t forget to check out the video of our Workington flash mob and share it with your friends too! Tristan!