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28 Jun
Education NewsThe Launch of the Manufacturing & Product Design Diploma
Where better than a potteries manufacturing giant like Dudson’s Ltd to launch the latest in the series of brand new Diplomas to be offered to young people in Stoke on Trent?
Pupils from Stoke on Trent high schools: Edensor Technology College, Thistley Hough High School & St Margaret Ward’s were invited to the Head Quarters of the Fine China Manufacturers for the Hospitality industry, to take part in a Manufacturing Challenge Day. In total 36 year 9 pupils celebrated the launch of the brand new Manufacturing & Product Design Diploma.
From September 2009, the Manufacturing Diploma will be available at the City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College, Stoke on Trent College and selected local high schools for year 10 pupils onwards. The pupils invited to the challenge day are among the first cohort in the country to have the opportunity to choose to study the qualification.
Set in Dudson’s showroom, surrounded by intricate displays of their vast and stunning product portfolio, the pupils worked in groups of six to a brief set by Daniel Goodall, Design Director at Dudson’s Ltd.
Daniel said: “I was really quite impressed with the final designs that the pupils presented. There were some fantastic innovative designs and fresh thinking from the young people. A day like this is a great chance to engage with the younger generation and hopefully after today, I will be seeing some of these pupils in a few years from now working in my design studios here at Dudson’s.”
Daniel’s challenge for the pupils was to design a mug for the coffee chain Starbucks. Their design was to target the older population who perhaps do not still have the same dexterity to use the handles on traditional mugs. The pupils were encouraged to be outlandish with their designs, consider their target market, ergonomics, innovation and attractive design.
Each of the groups were given a guided tour of the factory and shown firsthand how some of the product ranges are manufactured.
Deanna Height, a pupil at Thistley Hough said: “The tour of the building was interesting I was surprised at the size of the factory. We saw the products been created right from the beginning to the end where they are packaged.”
Kalim Rehman, a pupil at Edensor Technology College said:”I am considering studying the new Manufacturing Diploma, I thought it sounded appealing. After today’s experience I have realised that I think it would be a subject I am good at and I would enjoy. I liked working as a team to work on one collective final design – it was more challenging to think of new ideas than I thought it would be.”
The purpose of the day was to give the pupils a glimpse of the opportunities available to them in the Design & Manufacturing Industry and discover the types of tasks which may be involved in the Diploma course.
Design students from the City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College and Staffordshire University worked with the groups as mentors and role models. They offered advice on the brief and helped raise the aspirations of the year 9 pupils showing them some of the educational progression opportunities that will be available to them locally in the future.
Stoke on Trent are leading the way in the country with the introduction of the new Diplomas in schools and colleges. In recognition, the DCSF sent along a film crew to record the event, with the intention of using the footage on their website to display best practise to the rest of the country about how to launch the Diplomas.
Will Potts, Lead for the Manufacturing & Product Design Diploma and Head of Design at The Sixth Form College said: “Today’s event has gone really well I would like to thank Dudson’s and The Staffordshire Partnership for making it possible to launch the new Diploma in such an impressive way. It is important for a qualification that focuses so much on the real world of work, that we have the support and input from local companies and the challenge day at Dudson’s shows us and the young people that we do have this support locally and there are the opportunities in this industry.”