Engineering

DESIGN TECHNOLOGY (NCFE ENGINEERING)
Examination Board: NCFE L2 Course Number: 603/2963/4

What is the course about?
This course is designed to prepare students for their first steps into Engineering. There is a well-documented skills shortage in the UK for young engineers. This course will give students the ability to move forward into an exciting career in Engineering and Applied Sciences. The course covers electronics, mechanisms and pneumatics disciplines, aiming to prepare candidates to participate in tomorrow’s rapidly changing engineering technologies.

Candidates will be encouraged to identify needs and opportunities, which can be solved by developing a range of ideas involving the making of engineered projects. Students should be confident in Mathematics due to the technical nature and complexity of the final exam.

What skills and ideas will I learn?

● Learning engineering drawing to British Standards in 3rd angle orthographic drawing

● CAD programmes such as AutoCAD, CAM with CNC to an industrial level

● To design and build electronic circuits

● Mechanical engineering including mechanisms, forces and materials stress analysis

● Pneumatic systems design and application

● Practical skills including milling, turning, casting, welding, PCB design and CNC, CAD/ CAM and many more

How is the course assessed?

●       Y10 Unit 1; 1.30 hour exam (40%): Engineering theory and technical drawing. (Maths and Science comprise a substantial proportion of this paper, and students considering taking Engineering should be confident in their levels of achievement in these subjects.)

●     Y11 Unit 3; Combined design and build synoptic project (60%).  Students have to respond to an engineering brief and produce BS8888 standard drawings to support the manufacturing process. 

What will the course allow me to progress to in the future?

NCFE Engineering provides a sound base for any Engineering course progression. The course could also lead to the Systems A-Level at Angmering or BTEC Level 3 at other colleges.