‘Visiting the Czech Technology Museum was easily my favourite part; it is one of the best museums I have been to.’ Tom Austin, Year 12
DT boys on the banks of the Vltava in Prague.
to learn about the project, come up with some innovative ideas and be inspired by previous winners’ work on sale in the shop. Despite some nifty ideas, unfortunately we were not selected as finalists, but will definitely be partaking in next year’s competition and hoping for more success, especially as we can now use the new 3D printer for modelling prototypes. ‘I want to be a designer in the future, so to me the Design Museum and the art nouveau museum were particularly fascinating.’ Michal Mazur, Year 12 In June, 15 of our Year 11 and 12 boys visited the Jaguar Land Rover factory in Birmingham. We saw the ‘press shop’ where the body panels were stamped from steel and the ‘body in white shop’, where the empty shells are assembled by robots before their onward journey through numerous fit and assembly processes. We also visited the final trim and checking workshop before we saw the vehicles leave the dispatch area for their customers.
The DT workshops are open for all boys from Year 10 and above every lunchtime. Boys can visit the department for advice on coursework, to practise a skill or to make products. Year 7 boys are given the opportunity to work together to solve a problem for the House Engineering Day Challenge. Great excitement is generated when the whole year group take part in team–engineering challenges that need resourceful thinking, cool heads and the ability to work as a team and under pressure. This year, the challenge was to protect an egg from a six–metre drop onto a concrete surface. This year, we launched a Year 7 Woodworking Club on Friday lunchtimes. All boys that have attended have successfully made a bird box, which has helped to improve their skills with a wide range of tools and equipment and all have personalised their designs in some way. The next aim is to put these bird boxes around school to help encourage new wildlife to the grounds, before venturing onto a new project.
Bloodhound Society The Bloodhound Society is a society still in its youth, but it is growing rapidly. For the Year 8 and 9 boys involved, it is a great way to develop critical design thinking alongside their practical skills to make a group project. In previous years, the boys have made their own rocket cars. The current project is an off–road gravity racing car, in which the boys have got to grips with areas such as chassis construction, CAD, metal fabrication and structural triangulation. The ultimate aim is to grow our team and create a fleet of student made and maintained karts that can be used to race in school and against others.
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