Manchester Communication Academy (MCA) in Harpurhey has become the home to the UK’s very first Bloodhound Education Centre. The Academy opened its doors to the first year 7 cohort of pupils in September 2010 and through Intel approached Bloodhound to offer space for an education centre. Launched last week, the centre is named after and inspired by The Bloodhound Project, an international education initiative focused on achieving 1000mph and inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.
Following a welcome and outline on how the Bloodhound Education Centre would be used, MCA principal Lynne Heath introduced Bloodhound design engineer Annie Berrisford who explained to the invited audience how she had been enticed into the exciting world of engineering.
Annie said: “My passion was for racing cars – old ones. I race a vintage Frazer Nash and was brought up being told of the land speed record greats such as Malcolm Campbell and Parry Thomas. My internship with JCB gave me the opportunity to work on the Dieselmax project, and I suppose you can say I was hooked on land speed records. But never in my wildest dreams did I expect to be working on what is possibly one of the most exciting projects in the world of engineering at the moment, the BLOODHOUND SSC world land speed record car.”
The Bloodhound Education Centre, created in partnership with world-class innovative organisations including British Telecom, Intel, Promethean and The Bloodhound Project, has been set up to inspire the next generation of engineers and to drive innovation, invention and industry in the North West region and beyond.
The centre will become a leading destination for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) teaching and learning and provides a remarkable multi-zone space that will deliver some of the most exciting and hands on experiences including the very latest 4D immersive learning space, and leading edge CAD/CAM engineering technology. Bloodhound Project sponsor Promethean has provided the interactive white boards for the education centre and Intel has supplied their Classmate laptops.
Lynne Heath commented: “This is a great opportunity for us to give young people a chance to experience STEM subjects and for them to appreciate the wide range of opportunities and career choices presented by an understanding of science and engineering. The centre brings together some of the brightest and most innovative names in the worlds of science and engineering and has industry standard facilities to support creative and innovative design.”
The Centre is designed for use by MCA students, other learning groups and primary school students and has been built so that teachers can use the space in as flexible a way as possible. The ethos of learning is focussed around research, design, build and test, just as it would be in a real science or engineering environment. Pupils will experience a whole range of activities, all linked to the national curriculum, but delivered in an exciting way using Bloodhound as the learning context.
For a more complete outline of what the MCA teachers had devised for their pupils, download Launching_the_Bloodhound_Centre.pdf - Adrian Oldknow’s report of how Bloodhound can bring maths, science and technology to life in the classroom.
Also supporting the launch was Bloodhound Ambassador John Wood, who as a chemist was able to support Daniel Jubb (Falcon Project) when he explained to the MCA pupils the workings of a hybrid rocket. Daniel, who lives in Manchester, also brought along a variety of rocket artefacts and the hydrogen peroxide fuel pump that will be used in the Bloodhound car.
For further details of the Bloodhound education centres, contact Jonathan Ellis, education director.
Picture top of page: Daniel Jubb and John Wood pictured with MCA pupils holding a 1/3 scale cut away hybrid rocket.
