2017 Wool4school winner Alice Wang from St George’s High School, NSW, with her design.

STUDENTS, teachers and their schools will vie for prizes worth $10,000 in the Woolmark Company’s 2018 Wool4School design competition.

The Woolmark Company’s parent company Australian Wool Innovation has announced that registrations are now open for Wool4School 2018.

The competition’s scope was expanded last year to include Year 12 students, making the competition available to secondary school students from years 7 to 12. Registrations for the 2018 competition close on May 31, submissions close on July 27 and winners will be announced on August 24.

All teachers who register their class for the 2018 competition will receive a free resource pack for the classroom filled with fabric and yarn samples, technical information to learn about wool and other helpful resources to help your students, The Woolmark Company said. Teachers also have the chance to go in the running to win $1000, a Bernina sewing machine and a workshop for your students with a professional wool expert.

Lesson plans are also available online, aligned to the national curriculum, to easily implement Wool4School into classrooms.

In 2018, students are being invited to design an innovative, creative and multi-functional outfit, containing a minimum 80 percent Merino wool. The Woolmark Company said students are advised to think outside the box by injecting new concepts and imaginative uses into their designs, such as transforming a skirt into handbag or sweater into skirt. The outfits must contain a minimum of one piece with a maximum of four pieces. Students do not have to make their designs, but they must illustrate and carefully describe the textiles used in their work.

Since it was launched in 2012, Wool4School has involved more than 65,000 students nationwide learning the fundamentals of fashion design and exploring the benefits and versatility of wool and the fabric it creates.

Full details, resources and lesson plans can be found on www.wool4school.com, along with details of the prizes on offer for students and teachers.

Source: AWI.