National Saturday Club

The National Saturday Club gives young people aged 13-16 (school years 8-11) the unique opportunity to study every Saturday morning at their local college or university for free. The programme, funded by the Sorrell Foundation, offers 30 weeks of inspiring classes to students over the academic year. The aim of the club is to nurture young people’s talent and build their confidence and self-esteem. London Met runs two Saturday Clubs:

National Art and Design Saturday Club

At London Met, classes are taught at the School of Art, Architecture and Design and led by two tutors, Jane Roberts (theatre designer) and Chiara Cola (costume designer and visual artist), alongside our student ambassadors. We explore a range of different disciplines, such as painting, drawing, performance design, model making, creating environments and creatures, mural and scenic painting, costume and character drawing, and digital design.

Club members also visit some of London's best museums and galleries, and exhibit their work in their own summer show at Somerset House, London. They are also given the opportunity to attend a masterclass with some of the UK's foremost designers or artists. Recent guest workshops include:

behind the scenes masterclass with the V&A
architecture with TateHindle (March 2019)
jewellery design with Peter Marigold (April 2018)
theatre, costume and props design with English National Opera (2016-19)
food sculpture and landscapes with cake artist Connie Viney (spring 2017)
typefaces with artist Bob and Roberta Smith (spring 2015)

Club timings: Saturdays in term time, 11am to 1.30pm

Start Date: November 2021

Location: Calcutta House, Old Castle Street, London, E1 7NT

National Writing and Talking Saturday Club

The Writing and Talking Club aims to inspire local young people to explore the craft, the power and the possibility of writing whilst, most importantly, having fun.

Sessions include creative prose and poetry writing and performance, screenwriting, theatre and journalistic skills. Club members are taught by Theatre academic Tory Sandars and are able to utalise relevnt London Met facilities including hosting a radio show at our radio studio and debating in our mock court room.

We also have exciting guest masterclasses and visit top London arts venues. Previous masterclasses have included film making with Adobe, literary critisicm with Journalist Mark Valencia and bestselling authors Libby Page and Laura Dockrill. The Club has also been able to experience numerous operas at the English National Opera and plays at Shakespeare's Globe.

Club timings: Saturdays in term time, 10.30am to 1pm

Start Date: November 2021

Location: Tower Building 166-220 Holloway Road, London, N7 8DB

How will the clubs run this year?

In the first instance, face to face sessions will take place at our University campus. We will be following a thorough risk assessment and adhering to Government and University guidelines (details of which will be communicated when we confirm your place in the club).
Should the current guidelines change, we are fully set up to run sessions via a secure online platform which can be accessed on PC/tablet/mobile or even dialed in via mobile. We ran te clubs onlne in 2020/21 and it worked realy well.
We will keep communication open with parents/guardians to update you on any developments or changes we make.