Celebrations for creative schools programme as TICE turns ten!

A North East organisation specialising in creative, design and digital programmes for young people aged 13+ proudly celebrated its tenth birthday at Newcastle University Students Union. The TICE Programme Final Show brought together students with an audience of their peers, parents, school and academic supporters as well as those many varied creative and digital companies who had been involved in earlier stages or through out the whole programme.   It was a celebration of the students’ creative achievements and recognised their commitment to the programme.  Guest speakers included Paul Fleet Deputy Head of the School of Art and Cultures at Newcastle University, Christopher Hodge, Senior Lecturer on Fashion Communication at Northumbria University and Shantelle Million Managing Director of MiCarePlan.

Jason Knights, Managing Director of Gateshead based Blue Kangaroo Design spoke passionately about his own entrepreneurial journey into a creative industry, inspiring the young students to “Be bold and brave. Do something that you love.”

Jayne Younger, Teacher at Longbenton High School said “TICE is very important to students because they suddenly get a chance to see what it’s like to live and work in the creative sector and they get to do things that don’t really have the opportunity to do in school – they get to lead, they have to work together. They’re filling their CVs with things that the creative sector really wants to see. It’s invaluable to them”

The TICE Programme is the brainchild of Jennifer Barrett; founder of This is Creative Enterprise (TICE), self-confessed follower of fashion and educational creative advocate.  Jennifer started TICE nine years ago, launching the TICE Programme with just three schools, to today a programme with 16 North East regional schools including John Spence Community High School, Churchill Community College and St Wilfrid’s RC College with over 450 students choosing to explore a creative pathway with the support of TICE.

The TICE programme incorporates three stages within one of eight creative disciplines (Graphic Design, Fashion, Computer Science, Music, Photography, Textiles Design, Enterprise and Creative Writing) over the course of an academic year. These stages  (6 days in total) Insight, Explore and Create see student’s progress through developing their soft skills and experiences before completing a final industry led project brief.   The TICE programme consists of theory based learning, workshops, industry visits, team building tasks and motivational guest speakers to give students informative but practical hands-on experience on how to enter their chosen specific industry sectors.   Over 250 creative companies support the TICE programme through out the academic year from Topshop to Loft Music Studios, Nebula Labs to the Lit & Phil as well as facilitating partnerships with educational institutions including Newcastle University, Northumbria University, Newcastle College and Sunderland University.

Melissa Whale-Spencer, Year 10 at St. Wilfrid’s RC College completed the Creative Enterprise programme and said “It definitely has made me think differently about the creative and digital industries, for example I now know that there are more opportunities in those industries than I thought before and I definitely will consider studying or working in these industries in the future.”

Megan Savage completed the TICE Programme aged 13 whilst attending Burnside Business & Enterprise College nine years ago and has remained at TICE ever since! Now graduating from Contemporary and Popular Music (BA Hons) at Newcastle University, Megan has built up an integral role as part of the TICE team, holding a permanent position as Programme Support & Co-ordinator. Megan credits her early exposure to the music industry through her TICE participation and subsequent work experience allowed her to recognise her potential, helping to shape her educational choices and further her career goals within a creative industry.