Media Studies Department

Media Studies at Barking Abbey is a relatively new but rapidly developing department. Staff have clear aims and objectives and high expectations.Pupils are taught through detailed schemes of work, which have been developed to satisfy the requirements of the OCR syllabus at both GCSE and A –level. We have successfully been running GCSE for 7 years,and started A- level in September 2002. View Video Examples of some of our students work.

Media Classroom

The Schemes of Work recognise the need in Media Studies to enable students to harness their media literacy through a comprehensive exploration of media products and their processes as well as an in-depth study of the concepts involved. The schemes have been organised to ensure that equal attention is given to the demands of Media Languages and Categories, Media Messages and Values, and Media Producers and Audiences. At A-level study is approached through a conceptual framework comprising Media Forms and Conventions, Media Institutions, and media Audiences and Representations. Have a look at this powerpoint presentation for more info on studying Media at Barking Abbey (media.ppt, 320kb).

Barking Abbey School Media Department is also the home of Monkvision!! Click here to download the official Monkvision Screensaver to your own computer!!

Facilities and Resources
The new Media Suite and its fantastic facilities have transformed both the teaching and learning of Media Studies at Barking Abbey School. The new development gives pupils an excellent environment in which to develop their interest and skills in this subject. The impressive £2 million building boasts modern state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.

The control room provides audiovisual equipment including vision mixers, camera preview monitors and DV recorders. Pupils can now work in a ‘real’ broadcasting studio atmosphere. The control room can host up to 8 pupils who can use the room to record and direct a live TV show.

Pupils have constant access to the Internet which now forms a vital part of the A level course. The Editing Suite provides both linear and non-linear editing solutions for A-level post-production work. The video editing package used is Avid XpressDV, which allows students to gain experience of industry-standard software.

The new development gives pupils an excellent environment in which to develop their interest and skills in this field. Projects completed so far include a live broadcast of a Blue Peter style show, a short titled ‘Dinner Bells’, a docu-magazine of the school year, talking heads at Presentation evening, news reports on graffiti, the refugee situation in Barking and Dagenham, to name but a few.

BAFTA - "The Barking Abbey Film & Television Awards"

Each year the Media Department showcases its work at "BAFTA - The Barking Abbey Film & Television Awards", a glamorous awards show packed with great student work.  Hosted by students, the evening features awards which are presented to students by members of staff in an Oscars-style ceremony. Each category is highly coveted, and the evening is always very enjoyable. The work that the students have produced takes centre stage, being screened for the audience to enjoy, before awards including "Best Actor", "Best Cinematography", and "Best Presenters" are duly handed to the deserving winners.

Activities and Links

The department has organised numerous trips over the past few years, including

• "BAFTA" show, the media department's yearly showcase of students' work.
• The OCR Sci-fi Workshop
• ‘The Space Station’ at IMAX.
• Yearly visit to the Newspaper Education Trust where pupils get the opportunity to work as real journalists, writing stories to deadlines.
• Screenings to ‘Reign of Fire’ and ‘25th Hour’ (Spike Lee) through ‘March into Movies’ and ‘National Schools Film Week.’
• AS/A2 Student Conference in Holborn.
• ‘Stars and Performance’, lead by Jill Poppy, Film Education.
• Visit by Tony Harris, writer for the Daily Mail
• Y12 International Exchange with Dollard College, Netherlands, as part of the EU Comenius programme. View promo clip.
• New web-based school magazine run entirely by students.
• ‘Abbarazzi’ Y7 and Y8 termly magazine
• SPLATS Film Workshop
• Regular screenings of curriculum-relevant films in our newly-installed 5.1 Cinema set-up.