| 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | 4th place |
| Southgate | Northgate | Westgate | Eastgate |
| 299 points | 298 points | 295 points | 286 points |
This year’s House Art Competition was notable for two particular records:
- 1. It had the highest number of entries since the competition began – 286 in total;
- 2. It was also the closest result since I have been doing the judging – 21 years!
As you can see from the results sheets, Southgate won by just a single point from Northgate, with Westgate a close third, just three points further back. In fact only 13 marks separated first from fourth. This is a fitting outcome to this competition, which is now the largest House event of the year.
The response to the new format, where there is a completely free choice of subject matter, materials and size of work, was excellent and seems to justify the changes made last year.
(It also means that more of the work counts towards the total, with a maximum of 50 pupils work being included in the final score.)
It was especially pleasing to see so many entries from Years 11 and the Sixth Form, and in response to this I may separate them next year into two distinct sections, so that up to 60 entries would count.
The quality of entries obviously varied noticeably, but the number of last minute, rushed entries is significantly lower. Nevertheless, I would suggest that it is better to have ten quality entries per year group, rather than twenty mediocre ones, as there is no benefit to the House to have lots of poorer quality pieces. This is particularly noticeable with some Year 7 and 8 work.
A special mention must be given to those Year groups whose total reached 70 or more, as this means that they are averaging seven marks per individual. These were: Northgate Years 11-13, Eastgate Year 9 and Years 11-13, Westgate Years 11-13.
The range of entries is also continuing to develop, with increasing numbers of good quality photographs, ICT-based work and 3-D pieces. Unfortunately, there were no video or DVD entries this year.
Only four pieces of work could not be judged, because there was no name on them. Three further pieces could not be included because they had been done for other purposes (either class work or exam work).
As usual, a selection of this year’s work will be displayed in the Library corridor. I hope you enjoy them.
Well done and thank you to everyone who entered.
Mr R J Lockey
Kun Hu - U6R
Callum Bird - 10B
James Ruffle - 9S
Huw Arnold - 10T
Agnieszka Nohawica - L6R
One of a sequence by James Hyett-Hudman U6S