Nottingham University's Academy of Science and Technology (NUAST) is an 11 to 19 free school with STEM specialist status in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Governance

The Nottingham University Academy of Science and Technology is an academy sponsored by the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

. It is legally a trust, with a board of 11 directors and the headteacher, who is ex-officio, and a local board of governors. It was opened in 2014 as a 14 to 19

University Technical College A university technical college (UTC) is a type of secondary school in England that is sponsored by a Universities in the United Kingdom, university and has close ties to local business and industry. University technical colleges specialise in su ...

, but transitioned into an 11-18 free school in September 2018. The school is a member of Nova Education Trust, which provides the school with its IT systems and teachers.

Admissions

In September 2018, the first Year 7's were admitted to the school. Year 10 admissions remained open until 2021, after which admissions only accepted eleventh and sixth form. Applications for admission are made though the home education authority. The academy has an admissions number of 120.

Curriculum

Students study a curriculum that allows for specialist study in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

). At

Key Stage 4 Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31 ...

, students can study the group of subjects designated by the government as EBacc, the

English Baccalaureate The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is a school performance indicator in England linked to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results. It measures students' attainment by calculating an average score from specified subject grades. ...

. These are the core academic subjects: English, Mathematics, History or Geography, two sciences and a language. All students study Mathematics, English Language, English Literature, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Either ICT or Engineering is compulsory. Students make up the rest of their timetable by choosing two subjects from iMedia, Computer Science, Design and Technology, Business Studies, Media studies, History, Geography and Spanish. In 2018, the college decided to not run an iMedia option for newly admitted Year 10's, instead deciding to run a Photography option instead. In addition, they added basic PE lessons to meet the Department of Education's requirements.

Buildings

The academy is built on the former site of a fire station, on the A52 Clifton Boulevard in Dunkirk, Nottingham. It was designed by Bond Bryan Architects for BAM Construction. It has a gross internal floor area of 8,600 square metres and cost £10 million. It was completed in 2014. In addition to the standard features that one finds on a secondary school, there are specialist rooms provided for the STEM subjects. For

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

, there are workshops with CNC lathes, milling machines and routers. There are bench facilities for heat treatment, welding and brazing. For

electronic engineering Electronic engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering that emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current flo ...

, there is printed circuit board production and assembly equipment. The building also houses industry standard test equipment. Software is available for virtual circuit simulation and testing.

Process control Industrial process control (IPC) or simply process control is a system used in modern manufacturing which uses the principles of control theory and physical industrial control systems to monitor, control and optimize continuous Industrial processe ...

engineering equipment allows training in

hydraulic Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...

and pneumatic control systems. The ten dedicated science laboratories are to an industrial research standard. Across the site, there are 150 desktop PCs running

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that provides software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquarte ...

and

Adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

software.

Robotic Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

s is taught using

Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi ( ) is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in collaboration with Broadcom Inc., Broadcom. To commercialize the product and support its growing demand, the ...

s and

Lego Mindstorms Lego Mindstorms (sometimes stylized as ''LEGO MINDSTORMS'') is a discontinued line of educational kits for building programmable robots based on Lego bricks. It was introduced on 1 September 1998 and discontinued on 31 December 2022. Mindstor ...

. Programming is done in

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (prog ...

References

External links

{{authority control Secondary schools in Nottingham Science and technology in Nottinghamshire Free schools in England Academies in Nottinghamshire