Pupils at St Joseph’s Academy in Kilmarnock showed off their talent as fashion designers when they presented dresses, head pieces and jewellery they had designed to their peers, families and teachers in June.

The fashion show, entitled “Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass”, saw each pupil make a contribution, from designing fashion or jewellery to providing entertainment to modelling outfits.

More than 100 “pieces of creativity” were shown to 250 guests at the event, which had taken more than a year to prepare. Items such as head pieces, scarves and masks covered curriculum areas and had to meet SQA standards, said Gillian Gabriel, principal teacher of art.

Art pupils also created dresses from paper, out of Hessian, and even from ties brought in by male teachers.

T-shirts created by younger pupils for a technical and art course were also on show. The fashions were created in class and during after-school clubs. Some pupils created scarf designs with a professional textile digital designer, which were printed and sold on the night.

The show was the latest in a series of events at the school. In the spring, 10 S3 pupils, accompanied by a teacher and sixth-former, went on a six-day voyage to Oban with the Ocean Youth Trust. The pupils were responsible for crewing the ship, navigation and day-to-day chores on board, including “happy hour”, the cleaning of the 70-foot yacht.

Science and technology teacher Victoria Gilroy accompanied them and said they had all benefited greatly, using their numeracy, listening and interpersonal skills in new ways. “They had to understand each other’s view and pull together,” she said, stressing the boat had given them “nowhere to hide”. They had thrived, however, and back at school they passed on to other pupils what they had learned.

julia.belgutay@tes.co.uk.