A NEW PATHWAY
From September 2022 Warminster School is offering an IBCP Engineering Pathway.
IB world schools often offer either the IB Diploma Programme, or the IB Career-related Programme. Warminster is different in that it offers both. While the IBDP has a greater focus on academics, the IBCP has a clever blend of both academics and vocational courses which is of growing appeal to our Warminster pupils, allowing direct access to either university or employment.
All IBCP pupils participate in a core course consisting of personal and professional skills, language development, service learning and a reflective project. Bolted onto that, however, are combinations of courses and work experience that form certain pathways. For the past few years the IBCP at Warminster has offered two main pathways. The first of these is the Sports pathway, made up of a Sports and Physical Activity CTECH course, complementary DP courses like Biology and Psychology, Sports Leaders Awards, and work experience at places such as Bath Rugby and Bath University. The second pathway is the Business pathway, made up of a Business CTECH course, complementary DP courses like Business and French, and work experience at hotels in Switzerland as part of the Swiss Group partnership.
The new pathway being offered from September 2022 is Engineering. We have a team of staff that are eager and prepared to start the Engineering CTECH course. This particular course has the broader areas of manufacture, electrical and electronic engineering, mechanical engineering and design, automation, systems and control. Within these areas there are a wide variety of topics covered, including simulation and modeling, materials science, CAD, robotics, business, the environment, and project management. It is a rigorous course that gives students the most up to date skills and knowledge they will need.
With the Engineering pathway pupils can choose from the normal range of complementary DP courses such as Physics, Maths and Art. On top of this will be the opportunity to do work experience with the Industrial Cadets, an organisation which connects students with suitable employers to give them the skills and confidence to enter the industry with confidence. If the student so desires, both the service learning and reflective project elements could also have an engineering focus.
We are excited to get the new IBCP Engineering Pathway off the ground and hope it is an option that will see increasing uptake in the coming years.