Rolls-Royce

Entrant's address and contact details

School name:	The Kingswinford School
School/college address:	Water Street Kingswinford West Midlands DY6 7AD England

School phone number:	01384 296596
Number of pupils in school(s) - male:	451
Number of pupils in school(s) - female:	479
Number of staff in school(s):	65

Our team leader and our team

Name	Position (e.g. Headteacher, parent, etc.)	Organisation
Mr Stuart Blakemore	Physics teacher	The Kingswinford School
Mr Malcolm Davis	Chairman of local Amateur Radio group	Stourbridge Amateur Radio Society
Ms Kerry Harris	KS 2 Coordinator in Primary School	Blanford Mere Primary School
Mrs Alex Howells	Design & Technology teacher	The Kingswinford School
Mr Peter Limb	Head Teacher	The Kingswinford School

The key skills, strengths and roles of each team member are: (200 words)

Stuart Blakemore

Physics Teacher. Will be Project Manager. Is a qualified physics teacher and is booked onto the STELAR intermediate course at Keele University. Has an interest in broadening the curriculum and the range of activities offered by the school, especially contacts with overseas students.

Malcolm Davis

Stourbridge & District Amateur Radio Society, Chairman of the Local Amateur Radio Society, will be a personal source of ideas and advice. Has a keen interest in engaging younger people in amateur radio.

Alex Howells

Senior DT teacher, active in extra-curricular activities, who will assist the programme and oversee construction projects such as manufacturing specific antennae and receivers involving high levels of dexterity and techniques such as soldering, brazing etc.

Kerry Harris

Teacher, Blanford Mere Primary School. KS2 Science coordinator, involved with KS2 to KS3 transition and keen to develop joint extra-curricular science projects between rimary and secondary schools.

Peter Limb

Head Teacher. Very keen on promoting links with all communities, local and abroad, and sees the project as a flagship for the school as the local Science College

Our proposal

Topic area of proposal: Generic Issues - Links with external organisations

Briefly, the aim of our proposal is: (50 words)

Through amateur radio, licensed by Ofcom, to contact people around the world (especially other schools), to speak to the International Space Station, receive photographs from weather satellites, detect radio emissions from space and carry out various investigations. We will liaise with other radio clubs and invite local schools to participate.

Pupil type to benefit: Talented

Age range to benefit from proposal: 11-16

Learning outcomes from our proposal: (50 words)

According to their needs, local primary and secondary students will be:

regularly speaking to students across the UK and in other countries
using practical skills to constructed radio equipment
carrying out science investigations
downloading satellite images of the earth/weather
sharing these skills with other students

Our reasons for developing this particular proposal: (100 words)

Initial interest was sparked from student responses to a questionnaire during an Engineering Club. Amateur radio communication can be applied to a wide range of interests and topic areas. The science of communication forms a large part of the new science GCSEs, and there are risks and benefits relevant to many students through their lifestyle choices of mobile telephones, satellite and cable TV etc. There is scope to appeal to many students through different aspects of the project, i.e. atmospheric and wave science, speaking to different cultures, the practical skills involved in constructing equipment and their obtaining an Ofcom operator licence.

Detailed description of our proposal: (300 words)

One teacher is attending a STELAR radio science and technology course at Keele University (Easter 08) to gain practical experience and qualify with Ofcom Foundation and Intermediate Certificates, allowing the school to operate its own radio equipment. A local amateur radio society has offered advice and support if the bid is successful - they have actually been looking to develop more school links. They will visit the school to demonstrate what can be done, offer practical advice on the choice of equipment and share construction projects with us. For very keen students they can run 3-day Foundation Certificate courses, enabling pupils to obtain their own licence and call sign.

We will carry out:

High Frequency radio communication with schools and enthusiasts around the world. Sometimes it is possible to contact the International Space Station and talk to the astronauts as they orbit the Earth.
Satellite imaging by linking the radio to appropriate software. Live images of the earth can be received, showing many different features. These images would be displayed in school and transmitted to other local schools for their own use.
Science investigations - Directional and Radio astronomy equipment can be built and configured to detect radio waves from other planets and galaxies, and recorded over time.

Putting our proposal into practice

Outline of how our team would implement our proposal over a period of not more than 24 weeks: (300 words, bulleted lists accepted)

Week

Introductory session, hosted by Stourbridge Amateur Radio Society.
Explain possible activities, gather student responses on most favoured projects.

Week 2

Decide equipment requirements with advice from local group.
Meet with Head & Director of Science College to advise schedule, plan etc.

Week 3

Confirm purchase requirements and price.
Discuss antennae design with D&T dept.

Week 4

Visit Stourbridge Amateur radio Society.
Speak to schools abroad (prearranged time).

Week 5

Install and commission school radio equipment.

Week 6

Trial communication between school radio and Stourbridge Local Amateur Radio â€“ staff/students at either venue.

Week 7

Transmit/receive - record successful contacts in log book.
Particularly ask for other school radio clubs around UK and Europe.

Week 8

Selected students take Ofcom Foundation course.

Week 9

Communicate with users world wide, and with school teachers in local network school - some students visit different schools with handheld tranceivers each week.
Invite other schools to submit specific project requests.

Weeks 10-14

Students continue transmitting/receiving, establishing regular contacts with overseas schools; offer to work on projects with them.
Special projects begin i.e. to download information from weather satellites - obtain specification for equipment required.
Discuss requirements with DT and issue drawings etc.

Week 15

Head teacher, Director of Science College and Stourbridge Radio Society evaluate achievements.

Week 16-20

Regular communication continues, logging all contacts.
Next special project to begin i.e. to transmit and receive images - identify requirements and commence manufacture/purchase of equipment.

Week 21

Special event - open evening for primary school partners.
Pre-arranged talk to specific contacts.

Week 22

Special event - open evening for secondary school partners.
Pre-arranged talk to specific contacts.

Week 23

Students demonstrate skills as part of School Carnival.

Week 24

Presentation by students to Governors.

Monitoring and evaluation

The monitoring procedures we will use during the project are: (200 words, bulleted lists accepted)

A timetable of the Project key dates wil be used to monitor progress.
The Project Manager will report to the Director of Science College fortnightly with regard to milestones being met.
A Project report will be submitted to the Head Teacher and Governors every term.
Weekly meetings will be held with students, and individuals nominated for specific responsibilities within the project.
Student suggestions for activities will be recorded and replied to.
All transmitting/receiving activity (date, time, band, operator, contact made)will be recorded in a log that will be available for inspection.

The evaluation procedures we will use at the end of the 25 weeks to check the effectiveness of our project are: (200 words, bulleted lists accepted)

The success of the project will be judged against the following criteria:

Have students made and maintained contacts with individuals/communities over the radio?
Have projects been carried out, or are underway, with these communities that enhance the learning environment of the school?
Have the students visited local primary & secondary schools and successfully linked up with the base station?
Have images and links from satellites been received, decoded and displayed in Kingswinford School and partnership schools?
Have pupils constructed equipment (ie antannae) from plans?
Have between 5 and 10 students obtained Ofcom licences ?
Has the club taken part in any independently run challenge involving radio communication? (ie museum broadcasts, direction finding competitions or contact competitions)
Has the club been beneficial to other communities within the school, such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, the Engineering Club etc?

Budget

Itemised costs of putting your proposal into practice within a maximum budget of £5,000 or equivalent in Euros: