Press Release

Model Students

Year 8 Students at Seaton Sluice Middle School are celebrating the successful culmination of their design project organised through Creative Partnerships Northumberland.

The project involved the students in designing a new high school for Seaton Valley which may be needed when this part of Northumberland is reorganised to a two-tier system. The project has been an exciting opportunity for 'joined- up- learning' where the students have applied numerous skills to achieve their targets. The project started with an information gathering visit to London to study architecture and worked with the Sorrell Foundation at Somerset House.

Students used their geographical skills to study and select suitable sites in the Seaton Delaval area for a new high school. They have also been involved in developing essential team building skills with Paul Swales from the Building and Construction Skills Agency. This enabled them to organise themselves into working groups and tackle the project systematically. They have had support and input from Mark Siddall from Dewjoc Architects which enabled them to consider issues linked to sustainability in their designs. John Holmes from Northumbria University also provided guidance on the use of materials. Each group came up with design ideas and worked with professional model maker Ian Barrett to turn these into working models. These sessions were extremely popular and provided opportunities to develop and reinforce mathematical skills linked to scale and measurement.

The whole experience was filmed by the students with film-maker Andrew Coates who provided instruction and guidance on technique and editing skills. This has resulted in the students producing a DVD as a record of their project. The final aspect of the project culminated in each team of students producing a brochure, model and power-point presentation to an invited panel rather like the Alan Sugar 'Apprentice' . The panel and teachers were very impressed by the knowledge and the confidence of the students and the overall quality of these presentations.
“These young people surpassed all expectations. They have met a huge challenge, worked incredibly hard and come up with some amazing, and, what’s more, viable designs. The collaboration process with professionals and each other has meant that everyone involved has been on a very steep learning curve. I think it shows just what talent and capabilities the children possess and what they can achieve if given the chance. I will look out for them in the future.” Said Kathryn Wakeman, Creative Partnerships’ creative in residence at the school.

The successful design was modelled by Ian Barrett and he can be seen in the photograph with the successful team of students.
The project has been an enormous success, the students have found it stimulating and exciting and provided them with the opportunity to learn with a wide range of experts. It is hoped to exhibit the finished work including the DVD and the model in local libraries and hopefully it will influence the decision makers when it comes to planning a new high school for Seaton Valley.

Notes for editors

Creative Partnerships Northumberland aims to transform education by turning people on to the power of their own creativity. Projects engage the imaginations of teachers and young people in dynamic partnerships designed to boost creative thinking skills and raise aspirations.

Contact details

Ian Holland, Seaton Sluice Middle School, Alston Grove, Seaton Sluice, Northumberland, NE26 4JS. Tel: 0191 2370629