Three Oundle pupils receive prestigious engineering scholarships

Published on isbi School News dated Monday 18th of November 2013

Max Farnsworth (16), Miles Podmore (16) and Hibiki Kono (16) from Oundle School have been awarded prestigious Arkwright Engineering Scholarships at a ceremony in London supported by the Institution of Engineering & Technology and the engineering company BAE Systems.
Max, Miles and Hibiki were presented with their Scholarships by Jonathan Firth, Director of Operations & Projects, Virgin Galactic and met the organisations that are sponsoring their Scholarships. Their Scholarships are respectively sponsored by Sir William Lyons Charitable Trust - a family run trust started by Sir William Lyon, who started Jaguar, which later became known as Jaguar Land Rover (Miles), The Reece Foundation which aims to support aspiring engineers (Max) and The Ernest Trust (Hibiki).

The Arkwright Engineering Scholarships support young people from across the UK who have the potential to be industry's future leaders in engineering and technical design. During their sixth-form studies, Scholars receive £600 to support their technical courses and have access to a range of exciting opportunities to learn more about engineering, such as mentoring and company visits. The Scholars' schools also receive £400 per Scholar.

Scholars are selected following a rigorous selection process comprising a detailed application form, a two-hour aptitude exam and an interview hosted at a top engineering university.

The Chief Executive of the Arkwright Scholarships Trust, Dr Martin Thomas, commented, 'This year's assessment process was extremely tough. Any secondary school can become affiliated to enter students, and this year we had 1371 applicants competing for just 371 Scholarships. The Oundle Scholars and all of our new Scholars have absolutely phenomenal potential for future careers in the engineering profession. Congratulations to Max, Miles and Hibiki!'

Max, who is studying Chemistry, Maths, Physics and DT and a course in Russian is currently working on a few projects which include repairing the body panels on a decaying Peugeot 205 and restoring a vintage Raleigh bicycle.
Miles, who is currently studying Maths, Physics (Pre-U), Design Technology, Geography and an EPQ extension course in which he intends to convert a Land Rover to run on an LPG supplement to increase power, reduce emissions, and increase efficiency, commented, 'I hope to become an Automotive Engineer and am currently working on a Land Rover Defender. I have done a complete restoration and hope to have it drivable and finished by the end of this academic year.'

Hibiki, who is currently studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Design Technology commented, 'I am currently designing a dive aid for my EPQ and a mechanism for 'personal flight' during my DT classes. I plan to studying mechanical or aerospace engineering at University.'

Head of Design and Technology at Oundle School, Clive Humphreys commented, 'The Arkwright Scholarship Award offers a great deal more to the pupils than just the prestige of winning. It is an introduction and gate way, with the sponsor, to an immensely exciting career. We are very proud of all our Arkwright Scholars and the talents they display.'

Following in the tradition long established by former Headmaster, Frederick Sanderson (Headmaster from 1892-1922) the School's Design and Technology Department goes from strength to strength and has become recognised as one of the foremost schools for science and engineering in the country.

Sanderson was appointed with the specific objectives of reorganising teaching, introducing fresh subjects of study, and raising pupil numbers and the status of the School. He succeeded in all these objectives, establishing the science and engineering departments. He built new laboratories and workshops, and introduced a co-operative method for engineering and other subjects. He was an authority on hydrostatics and electricity.

Sanderson's passionate desire was to give Oundle's pupils freedom to fulfil themselves and he directed that the laboratories should be left unlocked at all times, so that pupils could go in and work on their own research projects, even if unsupervised. The more dangerous chemicals were locked up, 'but enough was left about to disturb the equanimity of other masters who had less faith than the Head in that providence which looks after the young.'
The same open door policy (albeit supervised!) applies to the School's workshops today, which are amongst the finest in the country, filled with state-of-the-art machine tools which were Sanderson's pride and joy. Sanderson's hatred of any locked door which might stand between a pupil and some worthwhile enthusiasm symbolised his whole attitude to education.

Head of Design and Technology, Clive Humphreys commented, 'The Patrick Centre prides itself in being able to facilitate pupils in all their engineering and design endeavors allowing them to experiment and problem solve in a safe, well equipped environment.'

The Design and Technology department is housed in three buildings collectively known as the Patrick Centre (after former pupil Alex Patrick). The main body of the department is centred in two of the buildings, providing large interconnecting workshops and fabrication space with teaching areas and features:

* A machine shop equipped with manual and CNC engineering lathes/manual and CNC milling machines;
* A hot metal area for casting, a forge and hearths for braising and soldering;
* Woodturning lathes and benches;
* A CAD/CAM room with four CAD/CAM routers, a 3D Printer, Laser Cutter and dedicated computers with specialised industrial software to integrate IT skills into all aspects of design and manufacture;
* Two computer rooms;
* A large dedicated welding area.

The third building contains a second computer room, a design studio and a microelectronics lab. All the areas are well equipped with hand tools and are maintained by qualified technicians.

The department offers the pupils the time space and skills outside the curriculum to develop their individual paths with activities as varied as jewellery making, woodturning, off-road go-carts, hovercraft and the manufacture of fully road legal cars.

The School offers two Scholarships for Design and Technology, one at 13 and one at 16 . Entry forms and further details are available from:


Mrs Helen Vincent
Undermaster's Assistant,
Oundle School, Peterborough, PE8 4GH
Telephone 44 (0)1832 277116
Fax 44 (0)1832 277119