News & Events

Tavistock College’s technology faculty have launched a very exciting new engineering project. IET Formula 24 aims to inspire students into exciting careers in engineering and other STEM subjects. Students will design and build an electric single-seater race car which they will eventually race against other schools regionally and nationally at Goodwood circuit. The project started in November this year when Head of Technology, Mr Pete Keegan, launched the project to all year 8 and 9 students in assemblies. To be selected for the team, students had to apply for a range of specific roles within the team. They had to prove their passion and demonstrate any relevant experience that would make them a suitable candidate.

Mr Keegan said: “We are really trying to give the project a ‘real-world context’ and give students a taste of what applying for a job is actually like. We hope to maintain this as a strong theme throughout the project, giving it a career context. After scrutinising many applications the team were selected. The proud and excited students are Jack Kelly of Year 10 (who will be taking on the role of captain), Jack Kerswill (Year 9), Erin Bolding (Year 8), Tom Harrison (Year 9), Bryce Lovell (Year 9), Ben Anning (Year 9) and Sebastian Hennessay-Dobbs (Year 9).

To start the project, the team needed to get fundraising as the initial start-up cost to build a Formula 24 kit car chassis is just over two thousand pounds. So far the team have sourced over half of this through some generous sponsorship from the College’s Trustees, Tavistock Rotary Club and the Tavistock Lyons club. The team have since been spending every spare moment of every day manufacturing laser-cut reindeers which were sold for Christmas gifts via Southwest Crafts and Brigid Foley in Tavistock, as well as through various craft events locally. We have managed to raise over £2,000 so far. Now the students are being given some additional lessons in Race physics, Computing applications in racing, Maths in racing and Computer Aided Design – to enhance their skills ready for the big project ahead. The students would be delighted to receive any further sponsorship and would welcome any assistance from the community or local industry. Watch this space for further news on this exciting project!

Year 11 students from Tavistock College, who have worked during the autumn term caring for the college gardens and animals, raised over £70 for Cancer Research UK. The students chose to support this charity and raised the money by raffling baskets of vegetables and selling eggs from the chickens.

Year 10 students from Tavistock College took part in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) enterprise day last Tuesday.

Students formed small property companies which were asked to tender to purchase a prime site on which to build a new development on the outskirts of town. Students worked in groups containing a mixture of skills, allowing them to take on real world roles such as being a marketing director, architect, finance manager and project manager. The success of the teams depended on the appropriate allocation of jobs and sharing of their skill sets.

The students had a strict two and a quarter hour deadline to complete all their tasks on the property development challenge. This included a scale plan of the site, internal architect’s designs, newspaper advert, marketing ideas, tender letter and a series of finance calculations. Students were working under real time pressures and with people they wouldn’t normally work with as a result of the mixed nature of the groups. Another unique aspect of this challenge was the support provided by industry experts. Representatives from Cavanna Homes, The Met Office and the construction industry were all on hand to stimulate thoughts and question students on these real world tasks. Alongside this expert assistance, a group of Tavistock College 6th Form students helped to mentor some of the students.

At the end of the Challenge the 5 teams in each room had to present their work to the industry judges and peers with the winning team from each room going forward to the afternoon’s grand final. Not only did this day build on subject knowledge of Eco homes from Geography, marketing strategies from Business and technical drawing from Graphics, but more importantly it exposed students to a real life challenge. As a result teamwork, communication, time management and leadership skills were all developed – all skills and attributes that are vital to our 21st century learners as we prepare them for a workplace in the real world.

The College would like to thank Ralph James, Lynda Jones, Katie Russell and Chris Richards from the Met Office in Exeter, Martin Cavanna from Cavanna Homes, Gary Nichols from Optimise4 and independent consultant, Nigel Halford, for their support of this event, granting their time and expertise to all of the students involved.

Principal of Tavistock College, Helen Salmon, commented:
‘We were delighted to be working with a range of business partners for this important event. They gave generously of their time to help our young people to develop vital skills such as teamwork, planning, independent research and presentation skills.’