Curriculum Enrichment

The School offers fantastic opportunities, not just to gain good technical qualifications, but there are also a wide range of competitions, awards and challenges that you can participate in.

Competitions and Challenges

These team based challenges provide you with a chance to apply your technical and business skills to problem solving tasks that have been devised by industry

Here are just some of the projects that our Sixth Form students participate in:

F1 in Schools

This national and international competition allows teams to design, produce and market a model F1 vehicle
that meets stringent regulations, just like the real F1 setup. The teams take their models powered by CO2 canisters and race them against competitors.

The UTC Navy Boat Challenge

Teams design and manufacture a marine craft that is capable of retrieving lost cargo, either floating, on land
or from the sea bed. This will often involve the design of robotics, winches, conveyors as well as the boat drive systems

Duke of Edinburgh

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award offers students an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding programme of personal development, which is of the highest quality and the widest reach.

It is a personal challenge available to all, not a competition against others. Completion of the award is voluntary, as students commit their own time to undertake activities which they have selected.

UTCN offers students in Year 12 the opportunity to undertake the Silver Award level which consists of the following sections:

• Volunteering – to encourage service to individuals and to the community,
• Expedition – to encourage a spirit of adventure and discovery,
• Skills – to encourage the development of personal interests, hobbies and social and practical skills,
• Physical Recreation – to encourage participation and improvement in physical activity.

Expeditions are organised by UTCN each year and students attend regular training sessions at school in order to complete the Expedition Section. The remaining sections are completed by students in their own time. UTCN staff support students as they progress through the award, however a large amount of responsibility lies with the student.

It is not necessary to have participated in the as students can begin the Silver Award level
as a direct entrant. The Silver Award can be completed in as little as 12 months.

After completion of the Silver Award level, students are able to progress to the Gold Award level and will continue to receive support from UTCN with its completion.