Swindon pupils will be learning the technological skills of the future thanks to a new focus on robotics in their computer science lessons and the launch of the school’s first-ever technology lab.
Lawn Manor Academy students across years seven, eight and nine will be taking part in ‘Project Enthuse’, which the school hopes will excite them to explore opportunities within engineering and technology.
As part of this, they will be learning to program mini robotic buggies, powered by BBC micro-bits. Interested pupils will also have the option to compete in two national robotics competitions this academic year; the EEP Robotics Challenge and the Vex IQ Challenge.
Both challenges require teams to build, code and drive a robot to solve an engineering-based problem. The pupils will use the computer-based coding skills they learn in lessons to go head-to-head on a national scale in the competitions taking place early next year.
For those not yet ready to take their skills to the competitive level, new extra-curricular coding and robotics clubs will be starting this term too for pupils thanks to the new technology lab. This gives everyone the opportunity to be able to nurture and develop their interests, and even prepare themselves for career paths and job opportunities in the future which haven’t even been thought of yet.
Head of Creative Technologies at Lawn Manor Academy, Darren Beecher, said: “Robotics is an excellent addition to the school. Studying robotics demystifies our world and helps our students understand everything around them, especially as life becomes more and more automated.
“The subject involves so many disciplines; engineering, mathematics, problem solving and team work and as soon as they’re able to get their hands on something physical they get more involved with it and inspired to learn.
“We have found that there’s no gender divide with regard to skill in robotics, and often both boys and girls working together can bring new ways of looking at problems. We want our pupils to engage with the technology, to understand it and not be afraid of it.
“This is a great way of introducing the diverse opportunities that engineering offers, even just within the area of coding there are so many different paths and it’s growing every day.
“I hope that by offering these extra opportunities, students may find paths they may not have gone down if they were not introduced to this kind of technology. Especially as a large number of technology related jobs are not filled each year in Swindon, this may spark life-changing interests in our students.”
