Page 158 - Bellfort Magazine 2025

Technology Club—The Technology Club met each Wednesday and was facilitated by Mr
McClintock. The pupils had the opportunity to develop skills in CAD and CAM. This involved
designing name tags on a software package called SolidWorks. The name tags were
manufactured from acrylic and shaped using the laser cutter.

Rotary Club Technology Challenge—Over seventy pupils from nine local post-primary schools
participated in Ballymena Rotary Club’s annual technology challenge, hosted by Northern
Regional College. This year’s challenge required students to design and build a Space Capsule
Launcher using only the materials provided.

Working in teams of four, the students had to construct a launcher capable of propelling a
capsule through a designated hoop and achieving a minimum height of three metres before
returning as close as possible to the launch pad.

To aid with the delivery of GCSE Built Environment course real world experience of the
construction industry was required. Mr Hutchinson and his class visited the site for the new
Doury Road Euro Spar.
The project works were under the control of Martin and Hamilton Construction.
The class was able to view some of the theory that they had learned this year in real lfe practice.
They carried out a site survey report which was then presented later in the classroom.

Robotics—The department hosted almost 200 P6 pupils from 6 local schools over two days in
January. They attended to experienced Robotics– a programming and numeracy skills
workshop. The task at hand was to programme a bot around a predetermined course.
This was a well-attended event with many enjoying the new activity . Sixth form Technology and
Construction students were responsible in the leading of this and found it to be a valuable
experience.

Key Stage 3 Winners—The department continues to recognise and reward success. this year a
number of pupils excelled in the Summer exams.

Year 8 Mya Glenn
Year 9 Ella Fleck
Year 10 Lukas Stephan