William Sly and Omer Elmadbouh from Oundle School have each been awarded a sought-after Arkwright Engineering Scholarship, identifying them amongst the country’s future leaders in engineering and technical design.
Oundle School has been recognised as one of the foremost schools for Science and Engineering in the country. Oundle’s new development project, due for completion by September 2016, will position the school at the heart of applying science and enable new fields such as nanotechnology and mechatronics to be embraced.
The renowned Arkwright Engineering Scholarships, awarded to the students, provide recipients with a £600 financial award to enhance their A level studies and a range of activities to enhance their understanding and experience of engineering. Oundle School will also receive £400 for each Scholarship awarded to one of its pupils.
The Scholarships are respected by leading universities and companies. They are supported by top engineering employers and organisations such as Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, National Grid, Balfour Beatty, Microsoft Research, Thales, The Royal Air Force, The Royal Navy and the Institution of Engineering and Technology. The Scholarships are also funded by charitable donors including The Reece Foundation, The Lloyd’s Register Foundation, the Gannochy Trust, the Dulverton Trust, the Emmott Foundation and S.F.I.A Educational Trust.
William and Omer had to complete a rigorous selection process consisting of a detailed application form, a two-hour aptitude exam and an interview hosted at a top engineering university.
The aptitude exam tested candidates’ flair and originality in solving engineering design problems. During the interview, candidates were asked about their career aspirations and had to discuss an engineering project they had conducted. During the interview day the candidates took part in a team exercise to solve a hands-on engineering problem working with students they had never met before. Candidates and their parents also toured the engineering facilities at the host university and explored the diversity of engineering and related design careers and their importance to the UK economy.
Head of Design and Technology at Oundle School, Clive Humphreys, commented: “We are very proud of our Arkwright Scholars. An Arkwright Award helps open the gateway to an engineering career by putting the recipient in touch with sponsors and with everything that this collaboration can offer, giving them invaluable opportunities outside the classroom.”
Omer commented: “I am being sponsored by Sir William Lyons Charitable Trust which has links to the Jaguar motoring industry. I am studying Biology, Chemistry, Physics and an Extended Project Qualification course and have started to restore an old classic car. I am hoping to study automotive engineering at university.”
William commented: “I have been sponsored by Caterpillar UK and am currently working on an aerodynamics based project using the School’s wind tunnel. This year I am studying Physics, Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry and I hope to study Chemical or Mechanical engineering at university.”
Dr Martin Thomas, Chief Executive of the Arkwright Scholarships Trust said: “I am delighted to see pupils from Oundle School secure this prestigious accolade. Clearly, there is considerable technical talent at the School. With the competition for rewarding jobs becoming ever-more fierce, the receipt of an Arkwright Engineering Scholarship can help dynamic young people at the start of their journey to be the country’s future leaders in engineering and technical design.”
Oundle School’s new SciTec Campus linking STEM subjects
In 2007, SciTec, a major new science complex, opened, housing 16 laboratories. Oundle is now undertaking a large SciTec Campus development project which will see a new Mathematics department built adjacent to SciTec as well as a significant upgrade to the Design and Technology department within the Patrick Engineering Centre.
The new development will enable pupils to move from theory to practice and from pure science to the achievement of a workable technology. All STEM disciplines will be united both philosophically and physically, enabling pupils to understand fully how all the different stages interact.
The current Patrick Centre will be extended and exhaustively refurbished, re-launching as the Patrick Engineering Centre. The current ‘large projects’ space for which Oundle is famous will be retained but relocated, and a design laboratory for prototyping and design work will be created, acoustically segregated from the practical facilities. A ‘clean laboratory’ will be provided adjacent to the design laboratory, enabling high-tech processes such as 3D printing and robotics to be deployed. In addition to the large projects space, there will be four open-plan workshop bays that will enable pupils to be taught in small groups whilst sharing fixed machinery, as well as two new dedicated classrooms for design and theory that will be easily accessible from the workshops.
The new Mathematics department will form the major part of an extension to the current SciTec building, which was envisaged as a future development of the original design. It will thereby complete the original architectural aspiration of a grand entrance to the whole SciTec Campus. An internal quadrangle will be created, giving equal status to all disciplines as well as a proper regard to the newly-refurbished Adamson Centre opposite, encouraging an interplay between Modern Languages and SciTec.
The extension will also provide two new science project rooms adjacent to the current Biology and Chemistry laboratories, enabling experiments and projects to be carried out over a longer time-frame than is currently possible. This will bring particular benefits for pupils working on Extended Project Qualifications (EPQs).
