The academy curriculum

In a BTE Academy project, a team could spend one week making parts for a flying machine and another explaining why its first design needed changing. The academy arranged parts of its GCSE and sixth-form timetable around problems like this. English, maths and science sat alongside the engineering workshop.

Two stages of study

• Years 10 and 11 combined core GCSEs with technical study. The early programme divided its practical work into nine challenges across two years.
• Years 12 and 13 offered different amounts of engineering study, from a single-subject BTEC to an extended diploma. Environmental sustainability had its own place in the sixth-form programme.

A project that crossed subject boundaries

One surviving project brief asked teams to build a camera-carrying quadcopter. They were to produce components, assemble the aircraft, test it and use their observations to propose improvements. A report to an industrial partner closed the seven-week sequence.

The camera and radio link gave physics teachers a reason to introduce the electromagnetic spectrum. The shapes of components supplied geometry problems. Materials brought in chemistry, and the business communications work asked pupils to identify a civilian use for the aircraft. Those connections explain more about the curriculum than a list of examination subjects alone.

Room in the timetable

An early curriculum outline gave a usual finish of 4.45 pm on three days and 4 pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. Longer sessions left time to complete a practical task and record the result. The programme also included enrichment and time with a tutor. These timings belong to the former UTC. Families considering a course today can consult the successor school's engineering pathway.