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364 Educators providing Teaching courses in Witham

Alison Burchert.

alison burchert.

Essex

Encouraged as a small child by an artistic mother, I always sketched family members and pets, being able to capture a good likeness. From school through to college, my ability to draw became apparent and was recognised throughout my home town of Colchester in Essex. I had taken to pastels after years of painting in watercolour. The transition happened when working on a portrait….. "With watercolours I couldn't keep the smooth texture of the skin and the more I worked at it, the rougher the 'skin' got. Frustrated, I picked up a box of pastels that I'd had from college and almost closed my eyes as I chalked over the face I'd been working on for hours, cringing with the fear of having to throw the whole picture in the bin…. I smudged it over with my finger. The result was amazingly smooth and definitely 'skin' like. I put away the watercolours and invested in many shades of quality pastels". In 1997 and keen to enter into the art world, I offered my services to organisations to produce promotional portraits which came with good media coverage and helped my business catapult within its first year. I was introduced to various artists and teachers and was offered a place to work alongside Royal portrait artist Richard Stone who had admired my work through the local press. In 2003 I took up teaching art within local clubs and private classes, holding exhibitions and encouraging 11 to 16 year olds to develop their artistic talents with workshops using different mediums. From 2008, I had the immense pleasure of working with Colchester Zoo in Essex when I became their Artist in Residence. From holding art classes in the Zoo and working with children during the school holidays to portray their favourite animals, one of my greatest adventures was to work closely with the Zoo's great managerial team on their 'Stand Tall' project for their 50th anniversary. This saw many local artists give up their time to design and create personal works of art on 2.5m giraffe sculptures. These were then displayed around Colchester and even took a tour to London's South Bank before they came back to the Zoo for auction. It was with much excitement to see one of my giraffes (Big Catrina) sell to the highest bidder at £6800. Developing very unique drawing skills, I have helped students from all over the world with many varying art abilities to accomplish their artistic dreams. With a limited palette of chalks, and a vast experience in pastel application, my teaching took me to places I hadn't even dreamed of. Constantly moving forward and learning new ways to pass on my skills, I would say that teaching students of all ages is in my blood now. It has become a passion to show others the beauty of this versatile medium.

William De Ferrers School

william de ferrers school

Chelmsford

We will strive to provide all pupils with the means to achieve their maximum potential and to develop individual responsibility and respect for the rights of others by: · Pursuing the highest standards in teaching. · Providing an excellent learning environment. · Giving equal access to a broad well-resourced curriculum · Achieving a partnership between pupils, parents and school. We believe that: Children and young people come first in everything that we do. We are committed to ensuring that all our teaching is always at least good and regularly outstanding. We believe that all young people are capable of accessing an academic curriculum and with appropriate support and interventions can achieve highly. We expect the highest standards of behaviour and conduct, ensuring that dignity and respect are shown to all members of our school community. School is about more than just academic success—it is also about wider achievement in sport, the arts, applied learning, trips and excursions, clubs and activities. We care for our students as individuals—looking after their personal, academic, social and emotional wellbeing and development. Parents/carers are key partners in ensuring that our students are happy at school and are achieving what is expected of them. We see education and learning as being life-long, building on the foundations laid in primary and junior schools and preparing our students for their continuation of learning through employment, college and university. Our students take great pride in wearing our school uniform, ensuring that they identify clearly with the school and come here ready to work and achieve highly. We are committed to ensuring the continuing professional development of all our staff. We believe that our school is key to ensuring that the community of South Woodham Ferrers is strong, vibrant and cohesive. We are at the heart of our community—quite literally and philosophically. We really are an academy for the community.