​Learning today for tomorrow's world, the Drew school motto: this is something that everyone at Drew lives and breathes as we strive to develop the curriculum and the experiences we provide our pupils. While our motto is something we have chosen to call particular attention to and focus on, it is a sentiment that I am sure we share with the majority if not all other educational establishments.

One such development has been to introduce computer aided design (CAD) into our Year 5 and Year 6 IT lessons. This has been established for some time but CAD remains in the digital world and has no tangible outcome or link to its real world uses. We wanted to change that; we wanted to introduce computer aided manufacturing (CAM) to close the loop and bring the children’s work to life. Purchasing a machining tool that could manufacture what the children design in CAD on the computer would do this. The introduction of CAM for use in the school would reward the children's learning efforts by allowing them to manufacture what they had designed on the computer, allowing them to hold it and enabling them to see first hand the practical, real word uses of these tools.

Computer aided design and manufacture are at the heart of most designing and manufacturing processes and they are finding their way into more and more fields with almost infinite possible uses. The knowledge of these tools will most certainly be preparing the children for tomorrow's word. As such, this project is something that is likely of interest and could be found useful to most schools.

We planned to deliver the objective by obtaining a Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machine that would then allow us to manufacture the CAD work of the children. Obtaining and using a CNC machine made up the foundation of the project and from there we developed the bigger picture; how this idea could be scaled up to increase the benefits to not only the children of Drew but also to the children in the schools across our Trust. To do this we designed a roadmap that would allow us to break down this large project into smaller deliverable steps and to make sure each step was achievable, embedded and replicable by other schools. Our roadmap consisted of four steps:

Step 1 – After School Club (introduce the technology to the pupils)

This would give us the lowest point of entry cost in terms of budget impact for resources and infrastructure as well as time required to teach staff how to use the machine. This step heavily relied on my own knowledge of CNC machines, as well as the CAD and CAM software required. To increase the speed at which we could deliver a club and produce meaningful results I decided to run the after-school club myself.

Step 2 – Adding this work into the Year 5 & Year 6 IT Curriculum

CAD is already taught in these year groups so the addition of a CAM topic and using a CNC machine would be a logical step in furthering the children’s knowledge in this area. At this step further help was needed for teaching staff. The IT subject leads would need to help plan and insert the additional content into the existing curriculum. We would also need to spend time with class teachers to share information and requirements as well as train them on how to use the CNC machine. In order to help facilitate the implementation I helped the class teachers by performing a variety of background tasks and the majority of the children’s CAM printing of the objects. (With only one machine and each item taking approximately 20 minutes to print it was not practical to have the children watch each of their prints.)

Step 3 – Wider adoption

Having run an after-school club and implemented the CAD & CAM topic into the curriculum, all the plans and learning could be passed onto another school to begin their journey. With clarity on the time and financial costs as well as the benefit of Drew’s support this project should be replicable in another school and fairly easy to adopt.

Successful completion of Step 3 is key to proving the repeatability and scalability of the project for use in other schools across the Trust. Honing of the project will occur with each new school that adopts the project and the larger the support network will become. This will mean Drew will not be solely relied upon to support, manage or drive the project in future role outs.

Step 4 – A Trust-wide resource

There are two parts to Step 4 that could be completed sequentially but my aim is to complete them in tandem.

Step 1 through 3 involved using one type of CNC machine in after school clubs and the IT curriculum and then seeing this replicated in at least one other school. After completing steps 1-3, the next logical step would then be to build on the knowledge gained by staff and children with the introduction of other CNC machines into the curriculum. As there is much in common with the different types of manufacture and machining this is yet another managed incremental step forward.

At the same time, we want to obtain all three main types of machines (laser engraver/cutter, milling and 3D Printer) as well as to increase the number of each by creating a shared, rotational fleet. The machines can be managed centrally by the Trust for booking out and maintenance. This way each school only needs to house one type of unit at a time while getting the benefit of access to a larger number and variety of CNC machines. This is something individual schools would likely not have the resources to obtain and maintain by themselves.

It was at this point we needed to decide which type of manufacturing machine we would use as our flagship, and which type of machine (laser engraver/cutter, milling, 3D Printer) would best lend itself to our project and fit within our current school buildings. We decided the almost magical creativity of 3D printing would best suit this project.

To date we have managed to successfully obtain a 3D printer along with the necessary consumables and to put in place the infrastructure for maintaining it. Given the current constraints of school budgets, it was no small feat to get this far and as fast as we did.

Over the 23/24 Summer 2 term a meaningful after school club curriculum was written and delivered. The club was well attended and there was a desire from the children for the club to run again. Continued development of the 3D print after-school club provision continued this year (24/25) . As children who attended previously wanted to return, we increased the number of printable objects in order to sustain the engagement of the pupils.

During the club the children made keyrings, zipper tags and pin badges, some examples of which can be seen below. During the clubs’ pupils were very excited to see the machine in action and loved getting to take home their creation. At the end of our club sessions, we invited families in for their children to show off what they had made and learnt. The families have been just as excited about seeing the 3D printer in action and have commended us for bringing the technology into the school for their children to use. They recognise the importance it will play in getting their children ready for the future.

IT Leads have made plans to enable the 3D printer to be incorporated into Yr5 and Yr6 IT lessons. We are excited about seeing the CAD and CAM topics being delivered in the new year (25/26).

Meanwhile, we are working on Step 3 – to get another of our Trust schools to join the project and to begin delivering an after-school club at their school (Step 1). The long term aim will be for them to eventually integrate 3D printing into their IT curriculum, as we will have done by that point at Drew. We are very much looking forward to presenting our case study to the Trust for their consideration and hopefully the implementation of a Trust wide approach to teaching 3D printing.

Check out more of our Rethinking School blogs here!