During the summer term of last year we have been running a MAT club, inviting KS3 students who were consistently hitting their target grades to take part in a national design competition. The competition gave these students the opportunity to design anything they liked provided it fit inside a small Pringles tin. The product also had to incorporate two different materials. The responses from our most able and talented students was fantastic and I am pleased to say that three of our students won prizes and have their work featured on the website.
They are Emily Collins (8E), Isabel Watson (9R) and Poppy Wright (9R).
Emily’s passionate about the environment and conservation of national habitats. She therefore designed and manufactured an eco-friendly pencil case made from recycled plastic bags. She fused them together using an iron then sowed the material into a pencil case, adding a zip. The dolphin motif was made from a sweet wrapper.
Isabel Watson designed a storage unit for jewelry (bottom left). The design opens and closes using a clever, pivotal mechanism. Each layer incorporates a different design and layout.
Poppy Wright designed a puzzle set with a twist (middle right in the image above). The puzzle pieces were manufactured using CAD/CAM out of white acrylic. The design allowed the user to draw their own image on their puzzle. The set comes in its own cylindrical box, which Poppy produced using the lazer cutter.
All student who entered the competition worked very hard over many lunch times to produce a wide range of creative and original deigns.