year 9 innovate award ceremony

Head of Design Technology Mr Barber and Art, Design & Technology teacher Mr Reid were proud today to celebrate the achievements of our Year 9 students in the recent Innovate DT Challenge, and they are pictured above and below receiving their awards, with some showcasing their award-winning designs.

Innovate is a national school's competition, and to participate Mr Barber and Mr Reid arranged a UGS In-House challenge for our students to compete in.

Here Mr Barber provides the context and details of the challenge, some photos of Year 9 in action on the day, and the feedback himself and Mr Reid, in their role as judges, issued to the students.

Innovate In-house challenge 2023

Task throughout the day: identify a need and design a product based on a choice of themes for 2023: Restore, Play, Sense

The teams competed in a one day project following the GCSE DT Specification 1.Investigate 2.Design and development 3.Make (model) 4.Evaluate

They comprised 12 teams in all, and each came up with a separate design that they submitted to the challenge.

The designs produced by our students were as follows:

Team 1: Daycare Café

Team 2: Dog Park

Team 3: Rooftop Garden

Team 4: Cat Playhouse/daycare

Team 5: Cooling mask/relax pod

Team 6. VR headset and treadmill

Team 7. Remote controlled shoe

 Team 8. Sports centre and kitchen.

 Team 9 Full body VR suit

 Team 10. Retractable desk/Wardrobe

Team 11. Ocean sweeper ball

Team 12. Dog treadmill charger

The results from the judging were as follows, with examples of some of the feedback received for the award-winning designs:

Team 5 & 11 were awarded joint winner/first place and gained higher average scores across all criteria:

Team 5 Cooling Mask/Relax Pod Nicole 9M, Krithi 9U, Jacob 9M & Aidah 9U

Feedback from judges: `excellent creativity, very innovative range of ideas/sketches … and a wide range of modelling materials used`

Team 11 Ocean Sweeper Ball: Princess 9R, Diane 9R, Analina 9R & Siya 9R

Feedback from judges: `Very innovative and technical product … considered manufacturing mrthods and two models detailing design inside and out`.

Team 9 &12 were awarded joint 2^nd place:

Team 9 Full Body VR suit: Chinyelu 9S, Raaya 9S, Saanvi 9S, & Olivia 9S

Feedback from judges: `Excellent concept … the model had a variety of skilfully made, small, detailed components and it was a well-considered sensory experience`

Team 12 Dog Treadmill Charger: Amber 9R, Violet 9R, Clara 9R & Nneka 9R

Feedback from judges: `Excellent model with careful, measured details, different functions and complex partially working mechanism was modelled. Included an effective logo and screen`.

Team 8 were awarded 3^rd place:

Sports Centre & Kitchen: Chiara 9M, Elah 9S, Bella 9S & Marianne 9U

Feedback from judges: `A creative and imaginative concept with a strong social and economic basis … the drawing and plans show good thought … the honey-comb structure using aluminium is a good example of consideration towards practicality and sustainability`.

And Team 6 were Highly commended:

VR headset and treadmill

Zach 9U, Oscar 9U, Othniel 9U & Irmuun 9U

Feedback from judges: `A creative and imaginative concept … good consideration for the effect of light, sound and eye movement. Good use of materials is evident`.

And the feedback all entrants received from the judges for their written assessment was full of praise: "Thank you so much for participating and well done for your innovative and ingenious product concepts!

We thought all of your concepts were creative and would meet a real need in society.

Really well done all, you are immensely talented, keep up the amazing work!

With huge thanks to Mr Barber and Mr Reid for supporting our students in this challenge and for sharing this fantastic news!