“Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you. And that's why we're all interested in movies- those ones that make you feel, you still think about. Because it gave you such an emotional response, it's actually part of your emotional make-up, in a way.”  ― Tim Burton

The Media Department at Walthamstow Academy is fully committed to enriching the students understanding of the media around them. Students learn how to critically analyse and evaluate media texts and their place within political and social contexts, while building up an array of practical skills in both print and film production using industry standard software and equipment.

The aim of the Year 9 media course is to give the students a board understanding of media key concepts and debates, enabling them to have good media literacy and to provide a stepping stone into Media Studies GCSE.  The current curriculum involves students learning and developing a critical understanding of the media key concepts of Representation, Audience, Genre, Narrative and Institution.  Within these students complete both analytical and practical work to develop their knowledge.  Content is presented as projects where students research and analyse existing media and design and create their own providing them with a rounded and critical understanding of the media industry. 

The aims of this Media GCSE are to encourage our students to be inspired, moved and challenged by following a broad, coherent, satisfying and worthwhile course of study whilst gaining an insight into a broad range of media. It also aims to prepare students to make informed decisions about further learning opportunities and career choices.

This Media GCSE will enable students to:

• Develop enquiry, critical thinking and decision-making skills through the study of media texts, audiences and institutions
• Develop their appreciation and critical understanding of the media and its role in their daily lives
• Develop their practical skills through opportunities for personal engagement and creativity
• Understand how to use media key concepts to analyse media texts and their contexts.

Media Studies A Level is designed to allow students to draw on their existing media experiences and develop their abilities to respond critically. We enable students to explore a wide variety of media, including digital media technologies, drawing on the fundamental concepts informing the study of the media: texts, industry and audiences. The course encourages creative work and personally develops production skills.

Students have the opportunity to explore a variety of social, political, ideological and contextual discourses guided by theoretical knowledge.  Students explore ideas such as “All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values.” Marshall McLuhan, Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory, Stuart Hall’s reception theory and Stuart Hall’s theory of ‘The Other’ allowing them to gain a theoretical and critical understanding of the construction, reception and impact of the media today.

Intervention is a catch up club which is held for all year groups studying Media, they are run at lunch times and after school on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Intervention is particularly helpful for students who have just started their GCSE or A Level course and may be struggling to keep up with the amount of work done during lesson time. There are also students who attend to improve the quality and accuracy of coursework and classwork.

At strategic points during the course students struggling to make progress will be asked to attend targeted intervention in order to achieve their target grade.

Senior Film Club

Every Friday Senior Film Club is open to students in Years 11, 12 and 13.  This is an opportunity for students to discover and discuss a wide range of films from a variety of different genres and time periods.  Students experience films such as Blade Runner, Memento, and It’s a Wonderful Life giving them an opportunity to see critically acclaimed and classic films they might not otherwise watch.

Senior Film Club, every Friday in EN8 3.10 – 5pm