Engineering Gold for

Melissa Flack, Ben Bradley, Ralph Wilson, Ben Millard, Raulf Berry and Dr Anne Cotton

Engineering Gold for Year 12

by Head of Design and Technology, Melissa Flack

Congratulations to Ben, Raulf, Ben and Ralph, Year 12 Industrial cadets who have all graduated with an Industrial Cadet Gold Award from the Engineering Development Trust. For their project the team designed and manufactured a covert military surveillance drone, complete with a parachute. The drone was made using a Kevlar composite and by utilising 3D print technology, with the majority of the project undertaken during lockdown.

The team worked extremely hard, including weekly meetings with a mentor from BAE, and their achievement is a significant one. Their Lead Assessor from Babcock International Group commented, "The work produced by the team is of a high engineering standard and they should be very proud of themselves. They have identified the problem well, conducted thorough research, designed and developed strong solutions and above all, have critically evaluated their work exceptionally. Following the design process in such a way will serve them well in any design based career. They worked well as a team, presented their work excellently in the report and show impressive levels of professionalism."

Product Design in Action

In November, Year 12 Product Design pupils were able to take part in a series of online lectures delivered by Product Design in Action. A range of professionals spoke about their specialist field within product design and design engineering. The lectures were broad in their focus, beginning with Anna Ploszajski sharing her journey as a materials engineer, Bethan Wood discussing colour theory and materials investigation and Ben Wilson revealing his individual approach to design. The lectures were interactive with our pupils being able to ask the presenters questions whilst making notes and sketches.

After a short lunch, these speakers were followed by the event’s organiser, Pascal Anson, who delivered a collective creative exercise for the pupils to take part in. The creative exercise was focused around constructing towers with everyday objects which were then posted on twitter. Poppy Codling, Imogen Diffy, Gabriel Appleby-Mell and Benedict Blythe became twitter famous for a few minutes after their constructions were selected from all the events entries by Pascal, to receive analysis in front of all the participants. Finally, Sam Rogers from Gravity Industries shed some light on the approach Gravity Industries has taken to develop a pioneering human flight suit. The primary research the pupils conducted during the day was used to develop and inspire their A Level coursework projects and give them an insight into a range of different processes and approaches to the design process as well as an insight into just some of the varied career paths available with an A Level in Product Design.

Melissa Flack

Food & Nutrition

by Anne McNiece, Teacher of Food & Nutrition

In Food Preparation and Nutrition Year 7 and 8 pupils have been busy this year learning about healthy eating and making the right food choices as well as creating healthy colourful dishes to enjoy. These dishes have included Layered Pasta Salads, Vegetable Cous Cous, Chicken and Halloumi dippers, Fish and Halloumi Kebabs. The pupils in Year 7 and 8 have also explored the scientific side of food by exploring the science of soda and chemical functions of ingredients which resulted in some edible science experiments also known as Swiss Rolls and Cupcakes.

The Year 9 pupils have had a whistle stop tour of World Cuisine exploring cultural influences through bread making, pasty making and pasta. The pupils have worked at an extremely high level creating dishes such as flaky pasta sausage rolls, chocolate swirl tear and share bread and homemade ravioli coloured with beetroot and spinach. Alongside their practical skills they have continually developed their knowledge of ingredients and technical processes.

At GCSE the Year 10 pupils have been working hard this year not only finessing their practical skills but linking this to the examination preparation. The level of skills through technical processes and presentation has been phenomenal, especially as this is usually the first time of attempting these skills. A real highlight for many of them was making pate sucree with creme patissiere. The pupils have also tackled the butchering of a chicken and learnt how to meal plan, creating chicken curries, stuffed chicken breast, risotto and even making their own stock.

Year 11 worked hard this year on their NEA which showcased their knowledge and practical skills. Although they unfortunately did not get to make their final practical dishes they did have an opportunity to make some trial dishes as part of their NEA work. In spite of Lockdown the Year 11 pupils worked creatively at home to continually improve their skills. They should all be very proud of their efforts and skill levels they have mastered at GCSE level.

Will Gadd