Ely College, D&T Department Tour

Published 11th November 2020

A big thankyou to Dave Bausor for taking time out of his busy schedule and giving our members a brilliant departmental tour of the D&T facilities available at Ely College on the 3 November. Take a look here at the presentation given on the evening by Dave Bausor.

Ely College is a large state secondary school in Cambridge, for 11 to 18-year olds, with over 1600 pupils.

Dave started his tour by explaining the layout of the D&T buildings. Set around a quad, the rooms are connected, giving a good flow to the department and creating a dedicated D&T area.

There is a mapped curriculum on the walls as you enter the building, a great visual addition for parents and students to see how the learning develops through the year groups. Even outside in the quad there are signs and posters, so as you sit or walk you can be continually inspired!

Every room is devoted to a specialist area; engineering, 3D printing, textiles, food all arranged to create a COVID-19 safe environment with space, screens and sanitizers. Table tennis tables have been recycled as desk extensions, providing more space between each student’s workspace, enabling all students to sit facing forward. Ely has a heat treatment room for key stage 3 and in the Maker Lab, Dave and his team have robotics, crumbles and inspiring project displays, including a visor project made during the pandemic. A laser cutter has been installed behind a windowed partition, enabling students to be supervised, using the machine whilst Dave is still able to monitor the rest of the class. The department has a textiles and a 3D printing zone and a food room where teachers are able to demonstrate behind a safety screen. All the rooms are creatively decorated to inspire the students as much as possible. It really is a place where students like to be.

The highlight of the tour was probably a peek into the “Days Gone by Museum”, an Aladdin’s cave of technology gathered over the years. It is truly inspiring, where pupils can clearly see the progression of a wealth of technology over time: phones, typewriters and computers, vacuums, kettles, toasters and TVs. Some pupils we are sure, would not believe the older devices actually ever existed!

We all enjoyed it and the feedback from members has been positive. Inspirational for pupils and colleagues and it really highlighted the importance of the subject and teaching it in an inspiring environment.

If anyone wants to get involved with us and be the next school to showcase their department then please do get in touch to find out what it entails.

All departments are different, and your colleagues can gain so many ideas by seeing what is happening in D&T workshops across the country…. Help us to help you