Engineering Education Scheme
Mrs K. Coldwell, KS5 and G&T Leader, Maths, writes;
A team of six Year 12 students from Stanborough have been working intensively on a real-life engineering project for the last six months and their efforts were recognised last week at the regional Celebration and Assessment Day at the University of Hertfordshire. Tawsif Chowdhury, Callum Elliott, Hamzah Hussain, Christopher Illes-Wilbourn, Hannah Imafidon and Joseph Lowton began working on the Engineering Education Scheme when they attended the launch event at BRE in Watford back in October. BRE also sponsored their team project which was based on “Automated House Construction for the Future.” The team worked tirelessly from that point, researching existing products, generating new ideas and analysing the effectiveness of their proposed solutions. They met three times a week in addition to giving their own time to work independently in between meetings.
In December, progress on their project was given a boost at the residential workshop in Cambridge. Over the two days (one of which was a snow day for the rest of the school), they had focused time in the University’s Faculty of Engineering to construct and test models and then they experienced student life staying in halls at St. Catherine’s College overnight. This time allowed them to finalise their design as well as bonding as a team.
The spring term saw a sustained and concerted effort to complete the final model for the team’s chosen design as well as the report, presentation and display stand ready for the Celebration and Assessment Day. The team even spent two days in school during the Easter holiday in their herculean final efforts. The hard work paid off and the assessors were full of praise for the team’s innovative concept, their comprehensive report and their confident presentation. As well as presenting formally to a panel of assessors, Stanborough’s team talked knowledgeably to a wide variety of guests who visited their display stand and they also had the opportunity to view other school’s projects. The day finished with their graduation as Gold Level Industrial Cadets. This outstanding achievement has been beneficial to them personally and will also help them to be recognised by universities and employers.