A Specialist Media Arts College
Since September 2002 Frome Community College has been a Specialist College for the Media Arts. Our designation is based on a belief that all our students will need to be able to use the new digital technologies in their working and personal lives. It reflects the strengths of the arts not only in the College, but also the town and region. Our partners in the Frome Area Schools Federation are also beneficiaries of the funding which Specialist Schools Status brings.
By promoting ‘creativity’ amongst our young people we are giving them the personal qualities which will help success in examination subjects and in being effective human beings.
The Media Arts department feel confident that they can assist in providing the young people of today with the skills, knowledge and experience needed to be successful in the modern world.
Facilities
The Media Arts and IT facilities provided at the College are second to none. Besides over 450 IT workstations the College can boast a Media Centre that is state of the art. Equipped with a television studio, a radio station and an editing suite, it allows the students to create media products that are of a professional standard. The teachers and students who use the facilities are supported by a dedicated team who have all had experience working in the media industry.
All subject areas have access to the centre and its facilities, the Media Arts team also support teachers and students in their own subject based classrooms. There have been many successful curriculum based projects, including T.V. news broadcasts about the Tsunami, (Geography) the filmed Athenaeum debates,(Religion and Philosophy) and the recording of speaking and listening exams in English.
Projects
A few of our past successes included the production by students of a TV programme ‘The Breakfast Show’, and the creation of an ‘emotional health and well being’ DVD. Both were shown and enjoyed by all students on the campus.
Plans are currently in the pipeline for the making of Radio documentary pod casts – that can be broadcast in every classroom.
Another previous project was a multi media theatre performance based on the reality T.V. show Big Brother. It was conceived and written by both students and staff at Frome Community College. It involved the Drama, Music, Design Technology, Art and Photography, English, Dance and Media Studies departments. These different curriculum teams worked together towards a public performance which took place at the Merlin Theatre in 2007.
Drama Productions
Regular College productions are performed in the Merlin Theatre. Tertiary Theatre Studies groups have performed their productions on tours of local schools.
Each summer the College contributes major productions to an open air festival in the ECOS amphitheatre. Past successes include Tommy, All you Need is Love, The Wall and Richard III. College productions have been taken on tour to Germany and the Czech Republic.