Page 26 - Bloxhamist 2017-2018

CREATIVE ARTS

desiGn tecHnoLoGY

it has been another very successful
year for the DT Department at
Bloxham. in September 2017, Ollie
Kilgallon (Wn 12-17) and Sam Lowe
travelled to London as finalists in the
Young Furniture Maker’s Awards. This
is the first year the school has entered
this competition, so we are especially
proud of their achievements. To get
there, both students had to fight off
stiff competition from hundreds of
GCSE and A Level students across
the country. Ollie is now studying
Sports Design and Technology at
Loughborough university and Sam has
just completed his first year of DT A Ollie Kilgallon
Level studies at Bloxham.
Sam Canale-Hopwell chose to work
Sam Lowe
with Katharine House Hospice for his
project. His client wanted to make the
Chapel more attractive to visitors from
other faiths and asked Sam to think
of ways to achieve this. There have
been additional benefits as the project
has brought faith leaders across the
Banbury area much closer together
as they have collaborated with the
development of the final product.

Rebecca Skipworth Sam Canale-Hopwell
As always, the workshop has been
busy with GCSE and A Level students
In the Lower School, the First completing their coursework projects,
Form have been competing in the many of which are on display around
Bloodhound: Race for the Line the school. Sustainability in design is
Challenge, to design and race a rocket something which is becoming more
powered car. We took three teams to important, so it was great to see Rebecca
the regional final in March earlier Skipworth’s upcycling of an old piano
this year. Much time and thought had into a quirky drinks cabinet. George Bloxham has been slowly introducing
gone into car profiles and reducing Bletsoe used oak that had been cut at his CAM (computer aided manufacturing)
the load through refining the design of farm for his occasional table. into the department and the new laser
the wheels. As it was the first year, we cutter has been in constant use since
arrived with no expectation but a great its arrival. George Bletsoe, Sam Boswell
deal of hope and are happy to report and Sam Canale-Hopwell all used
that two out of the three Bloxham teams this new technology to great effect in
qualified for the national finals at RAF their A Level projects. In this way, we
Wittering. hope to give our students a more real
experience of the world beyond school.

Our Sixth Form trip to see production
at the Mini factory at Cowley allowed
design students to see modern
production techniques in action. In
scenes which wouldn’t have looked
out of place in a Terminator film,
they watched as huge robotic arms
assembled each Mini to order. It also
brought vividly to life the theory of
George Bletsoe
modern manufacturing.
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