The Chippendale International School of Furniture has been praised by Education Scotland for delivering “high quality learning and teaching,”
The school is a Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) centre and offers two Higher National (HN) units as part of the school’s full-time award in Furniture Design, Making and Restoration programme.
In its report, Education Scotland also notes that “The strong vision for the school and the commitment of the senior management team and staff promote a high quality learning experience that equips learners well for future employment or self-employment.”
This year the school, which is near Edinburgh, has full-time students from the UK, USA, Germany, Austria, Poland, Singapore, India and South Korea, and Education Scotland notes that “the range of countries and cultures of learners supports well the diversity within the learning environment. This is used effectively by learners and teaching staff to support individuality in design and technique and enhance learners’ projects.”
The school runs an immersive 30-week course that equips successful graduates to become professional woodworkers, as well as a number of one-week experience courses to give enthusiasts or prospective woodworkers an introduction to furniture design.
The national education authority also noted that the school had a 100% student retention record, and that “all learners are highly satisfied with their experience.
“They are well supported by an end-of-year exhibition of their work, a graduation ceremony and pieces of work being chosen to be displayed in the Scottish Parliament.”
The report notes that “the learning environment exposes learners to real life experience by integrating project-based learning with commercial influences. Mutually respectful relationships between learners and teaching staff are evident and these contribute to a purposeful environment for learning.”
Anselm Fraser, principal of the school said: “The Chippendale International School of Furniture aims to deliver teaching excellence, and the review by Education Scotland found that we continue to deliver high quality learning.
“Education Scotland also noted that we offer incubation space at the school – a low-cost way for students to set up in business, with continued access to teaching staff and our equipment and machinery.
“In providing long-term support to our students, we will shortly be announcing other exciting initiatives that we hope will give students further career opportunities,” he said.