On the 6th November 2014 the Year Ten students taking Resistant Materials as their DT option at Newstead Wood School For Girls went on a visit to Stoneham Kitchens, Orpington. The aim of this trip was to show the girls the elaborate design and manufacturing which is completed in industry design. Stoneham Kitchens is an independent company which produces bespoke, designer, handmade kitchens and kitchen furniture so their showrooms and factory in Orpington provided the students with an excellent local facility from which to gain knowledge about the industry.
The trip involved a tour around the showrooms, factory and storage facility so that the students could see each of the stages involved in the production of the kitchens. Laura Tang, commented that, ‘the trip gave me a greater understanding of the skilled handiwork behind the final products.’ Another student Eloise Marshall Cawley agreed, also saying ‘I was inspired by the innovative designs.’
The tour was then followed by a question and answer session during which the girls could gain further knowledge; this was especially helpful as it gave the opportunity to ask professionals working in the manufacturing industry questions about their practises which could then, in turn, be used in the students own DT lessons. This experience meant that the girls came away with a greater knowledge of the industry. Furthermore they gained a clearer idea of what they might wish to produce and what might be possible to make in school, with the available facilities, for the “Make It” project in their DT lessons. A project which will allow them to both design and produce furniture to be entered into an external competition, whilst preparing them through practise, for their Resistant Materials GCSE.
Isabel Freedman, Newstead Wood School for Girls
