Engineering, Enterprise and Technology

“Design and technology is about making things that work well. Creating these things is hugely exciting: it is an inventive fun activity. The starting point is most certainly at school. Teachers should tap into creativity by using a simple hands-on approach to encourage uninhibited thinking and to instill confidence in pupils to try out ideas. Classes in DT should be about breaking the rules and learning from mistakes.” - Sir James Dyson

The mandate of the Department of Engineering, Enterprise and Technology (EET) is to equip LC1 to UC5 girls with technical intuition by engaging them with a curriculum that is project-based and experiential. We aim to develop in them the practical skills, commercial awareness and confidence to express their innate creativity within a technical remit. Our hope is to equip the next generation of entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, technologists and innovators.

LC PROGRAMME

LC1 girls will learn about basic civil engineering principles, in particular forces acting on structures. They will learn about Compression, Tension and Torsion and how they act on bridges. In teams, the girls will apply the structural theory they have learnt by designing, quantity-surveying and building an aluminium bridge which they will subsequently test until destruction. In doing so they will learn how structures fail and develop a technical 'common sense' whilst learning how to work safely with hand-tools and power-tools in a workshop setting.

LC2 pupils will learn the basics of electrical engineering, in particular, systems and control technology. They will learn about the building blocks of automation using input sensors, processed by a programmable micro-controller to actuate a variety of output transducers. They will learn how to solder circuits, design and fabricate using computer-aided-design and computer-aided-manufacture (CADCAM).

In LC3, we seek to instil a commercial awareness of how products are made in industry. Pupils will be introduced to the 'design life-cycle', the importance of client engagement, and working according to a specification. They will produce and document the conceptualisation, prototyping and manufacture of several personalised products based on these principles. Pupils can opt to focus either on electronics or textiles. Either route will provide them the opportunity to deepen the technical skills they have learnt in LC1 and LC2 whilst equipping them for the independent coursework-based Higher Project Qualification (HPQ) in UC4.

UC PROGRAMME

In UC4 girls have the option to choose an artefact-based Higher Project Qualification (HPQ) for their GCSEs. The open-ended and independent nature of this course builds on the technical skills they have gained in LC (either in Engineering or Textiles) and is made manifest by the creation of a product in accordance with their design ideas. Girls will be assessed based on their coursework, a project report and a presentation made to an audience. This will be completed before the end of the Easter term in UC5 ahead of the summer exams.