The Vocational Centre is is incredibly popular with our pupils and has been designed to further increase the opportunities and successful outcomes for our pupils, offering additional opportunities to develop skills and hands-on experience so that they are able to master new skills ready for the world of work.

Our aim is to provide pupils with an ever-growing variety of options so that they can explore different vocational subjects, allowing them to experience new pathways in a simulated work environment.

Courses include:
Art and Design
Hair & Beauty
Construction
Catering / Home cooking skills
Customer service
Enterprise

To further support their learning and to increase their confidence, pupils also take part in work experience opportunities and complete the Preparation for Working Life qualification.

We are always looking to work with outside agencies and have recently introduced two exciting STEM projects, both of which we plan to continue each academic year, giving more of our pupils the opportunity to get involved.

Our pupils have been taking part in an ongoing LEGO project through Nissan. Using the Scratch coding programme, pupils programmed a robot to navigate a map, overcoming a variety of challenges and obstacles along the way. Our team had the fantastic opportunity to compete against other schools at Nissan in Sunderland, putting their coding, problem-solving and teamwork skills to the test. We are delighted to be taking part again this academic year.

Our most recent project is particularly exciting. STEM on Track, powered by the BWT Alpine Formula One Team, gives our pupils the opportunity to build and test their very own go-kart. Throughout the project, pupils explore the STEM theory behind the design and construction of the kart before putting their knowledge and practical skills to the test on the track. The project culminates in the opportunity to race at the National Finals.

Just like our Nissan project, we are committed to running STEM on Track every academic year, ensuring that as many pupils as possible have the opportunity to develop their STEM knowledge, practical skills, creativity, teamwork and problem-solving abilities through these exciting hands-on experiences.