A HEADTEACHER has called for textiles to be taken seriously as a subject by schools.

Liz Laybourn, Burgess Hill Girls’ interim head, said textiles was being neglected in schools, as creative subjects are being given short shrift.

Mrs Laybourn is calling for schools to promote the value of creative subjects - GCSE entries for design and technology GCSE, which includes textiles, has gone down by nearly 30 per cent.

She said: “Let’s reignite interest in textiles. There’s a place in every school for these fantastic creative projects.

“At Burgess Hill Girls we really do give ‘parity of esteem’ to girls who show amazing talent in creative subjects.”

It comes after student Allegra Cook, 17, who is studying for her A-levels in Art, Business and Textiles, won the title of Young Handbag Designer of the Year at the Clothes Show for two years running, and last month was awarded first prize in the Design for an Icon competition, part of the Fashion and Embroidery show at the NEC in Birmingham.

For her entry, she used luxury silk and velvet fabrics to represent gold, and inside the bag she created a watch face which used gems at the hour points. Thanks to the win Allegra has now been noticed by one of the biggest icons in fashion.

Allegra has now won a three-month internship with Vivienne Westwood during the summer holidays. It comes on top of the week’s work experience she completed with Zandra Rhodes.

She credits her success due to the school’s support. She said: “I’ve had incredible support from the school generally and my textiles teacher in particular. She has given up her weekends to support me when I’ve been working on competition entries.

“I’ve also been allowed to let my A-levels take a back seat when I’ve been working on competition entries.”

Mrs Laybourn said: “Allegra’s design was, of course, a fantastic feat of fabric engineering. Her incredibly complex work, which included a winder for the pocket watch, calls on all sorts of so-called academic skills. The competition was open to young designers up to the age of 25, so Allegra’s achievement really is remarkable. It shows she can compete with young designers already studying at college.”