Since January students at The Studio have been working closely with industry experts to produce a project as part the Project Based Learning Programme. On the last day of term students held an exhibition to showcase their finished work to parents, partners and their peers.
Working with over 40 mentors from companies including Milky Tea Games, Shop Direct Ltd and Catalyst Outsourcing, students were asked to select a pathway from the following four options; Geek Pop-Up, Film Production, Game Development and Internet of Things, with each pathway supported by a series of experts from that sector.
Throughout the 12 week programme the student teams pitched ideas to their mentors and worked together to bring them to life. Geek Pop-Up teams were invited to the Shop Direct headquarters and made use of the state of the art UX labs, whilst Game Development teams worked closely with industry veterans to fine tune their graphics and game mechanics.
Parents and partners were invited to vote for their favourite IoT product, film, game and business idea, with two winners being chosen from each pathway; one from years 10 and 11 and one from Sixth Form. Supported by the University of Teeside, the winning teams will be given the opportunity to attend an experience day to gain further insight into their chosen pathway.
Kate Rylance, Senior UX Researcher at Shop Direct, mentored winning Sixth Form Geek Pop-Up team ‘Junglebox’ throughout the programme. She attended the showcase and said:
“What a great final showcase by the students at The Studio, the recognition is all theirs! Easy mentoring with such an amazing concept in the first place; such a talented group of students! Congratulations again to my mentor students Junglebox who were more than worthy of their prize.”
Jade Parkinson-Hill, Director of Enterprise at The Studio said:
“Programmes like this are reliant on the support of the industry sector and we are extremely lucky to have such amazing partners mentoring our students over the past 12 weeks. We are really proud of our students and their awesome achievements and would like to extend a big thank you to everyone involved!”
As well as winners for each pathway, ten students were selected as ‘Ones to Watch’Â for their ongoing commitment and hard work.
Congratulations to Adam C, Shaun M, Dan P, Sam M, Peter L, Victoria H, Aminah M, Ella D, Cavan O and Jack M for being selected as the first group of ‘Ones to Watch’ at The Studio.
The Studio would like to send a huge thank you to all the mentors that supported students throughout the Project Based Learning Programme. The experiences and insight they received has been incredible and will continue to aid them on their pathways into industry.
