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New Course Dates Added to Our CPD Calendar
Over the Easter break we’ve finalised a date for our sewing machine maintenance and servicing face to face course which will be on July 6th in Nottingham. When the situation with the pandemic is less unpredictable we hope to run this course in other areas of the country but at the moment, as a very small business, we can’t risk the potential financial losses we incur if courses have to be cancelled. The engineer we work with on the course is based in Nottingham and has a very large workshop in the city centre set up to meet Covid restrictions, and he can be flexible if government regulations change, so for now this is the only way we can run the course cost effectively. Fingers crossed the situation is less unpredictable in the autumn term.
We’re in the process of developing live online and distance learning courses and this week have finalised dates for our live online curriculum planning course. This is available as either as a morning or afternoon half day session or as two separate after school sessions.
This Week’s Free Resource Downloads
After a break over Easter our weekly free resources have started up again. This week the ‘Introduction to Composites’ page on the website has been tidied up and some new resources added.
Some of This Week’s Thinking Points and Photos on Instagram
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- Something for the Star Trek fans - a database of chairs used in Star Trek that were originally inspired by real life chairs, including chairs by designers such as Eames and Mackintosh, as well as an Ikea chair. There are also other collections e.g. uniform designs, medical equipment and Starfleet interiors.
- Information on the ‘We aRe SpinDye’ dyeing process for recycled polyester made from used water bottles and waste clothing which H&M and Superdry have recently committed to using to reduce the use of chemicals, water and energy.
- Useful blog from Kitronik on bamboo.
- Design idea for a book that opens up to create a vase.
- Short video by a technical specialist from DuPont Personal Protection talking about the differences in seams used for protective clothing. Useful when thinking about performance properties of textiles products and the importance of making the right decision when choosing techniques to match the functionality of a product in use
- Podcast with Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman whose background and experience goes across many material disciplines and she’s a great example of a designer working within the broader materials focus of the D&T GCSE. She is the founder of Interwoven Design Group, a multi-disciplinary design and development studio specialising in wearable technology and smart design solutions, something she describes as being ‘the bridge between fashion, engineering, materials science and product design’. She’s also part of SEArch+ LLC (Space Exploration Architecture) which develops design for space exploration.
- Instructions on how to recover an umbrella - this might be useful for group projects with each student creating a personalised section of the umbrella. It's also a good entry point for thinking about properties of materials.
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Product in a Tin Competition - Final Term to Submit Entries
This is the final term to get your Product in a Tin competition entries in (deadline 1st August 2021). Why not use it as a module of work or home learning activity? The prizes are fabulous for both the winning student and their school. Get more information and resources.
Live Online CPD For the Summer Term
We're currently adapting some of our face to face courses so they can be delivered online or as independent distance learning modules. Our live online curriculum planning course is now available with more to follow soon. If you would like to be notified directly when other online course become available let us know.
Visit the course calendar to see dates for all live face to face and online courses
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