Private School News

Bedford Modern School students are “Going Green”

Gary Jones, Head of Faculty – Art Design Information Technology at Bedford Modern School together with the school’s Academic Enrichment Co-ordinator, Dawn Costello, arranged for 25 BMS Year 9 students to take part in a session designing and constructing wind turbines as part of their Science, Maths and Technology syllabus. Students were selected based on their performance and potential in at least two of the three disciplines.

The event, known as a Smallpeice STEM day, took place on Thursday 11th February. Smallpeice Trust STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) days provide short introductory sessions for students to enhance their understanding of, and aptitude for, problem solving, creativity, design and engineering.

Following an introductory session from the Smallpeice Trust, students were invited to design and construct a wind turbine to produce the greatest amount of energy. The Trust was set up by Dr Cosby Smallpeice, a self-taught engineer and founder of the Trust promoting. “Big things happen with the Smallpeice Trust including simplicity in design and economy in production.”

As part of the project, students learnt about renewable energy, wind power and wind turbines, electricity and circuits, structures and forces. The session concluded with the testing of each team’s model. A winning team was then selected based on points awarded for product performance, team working, aesthetics, cost and marketing. Members of the winning team won a small prize with two lucky BMS students gaining places on a Smallpeice Trust residential course at the University of Portsmouth.

“We are always looking for ways in which we can bring the curriculum to life. Experiences like the ones offered by the Smallpeice Trust and Network Rail are exactly what, as educationalists, we need. We are very pleased to be able to offer BMS students the opportunity to experience real world challenges, especially when they contextualise critical issues like sustainability and energy production. They also reinforce the cross-curricular nature of education, which the Faculty structure within Bedford Modern School was established to facilitate and promote,” said Gary Jones.

Maddie Reece, Year 9 student said, “The wind turbine session was enjoyable and presented a good challenge. We learnt the importance of teamwork and being able to compromise on ideas sometimes when working on projects.”

Edward Handford, another Year 9 student said, “We worked in small groups in order to pool our ideas. I have learnt the importance of going green to help the environment.”

Photo: Some of the Bedford Modern School Year 9 students constructing their wind turbines