The Lower School at Sevenoaks LS_book_single_pages | Page 26

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Technology at Sevenoaks School for Year 7 is
all about engaging in hands-on, fun learning.
We see ourselves as being science in action
and a place to explore practical projects by
designing and building anything from a rocket
to an app.
We incorporate almost all aspects of the
vast technological field and have the latest
technological toys to use to explore all
possibilities. We have the space, equipment
and time available for anyone to explore
practical learning elements within other
subjects. In Year 7 everyone is taught how
to recognise and offer solutions to problems,
coming up with new and exciting ideas.
There is no such thing as a bad idea, and
in the process of designing it is sometimes
the crazy ideas that can become the next
best thing.
In Year 8 we spend lesson time on three
bigger projects following a design and make
task with a set brief. Pupils build an electronic
speaker with an amplifier housed using parts
made on the laser cutter. They research,
design and make jewellery using silver. There
is also a branding project; the students
generate a business idea and produce a
brand set to promote their business using
Adobe Illustrator. This is all accompanied
by an independent research project. There
is more emphasis in Year 8 on working
independently and having the freedom to
express your own designs.
We teach how to turn a design drawn by
hand into a stylishly rendered shop window
product, using CAD/CAM (computer-aided
design and manufacture). We learn how to
use 3D printers to take ideas, quickly forming
them into something you can hold and
appreciate. We also learn basic coding and
all about structures, building tall towers and
testing them to destruction. We spend time
in the workshops learning how to use the
tools of the workshop accurately and safely,
appreciating various material properties.
the lower SCHOOL | AT SEVENOAKS