Technology and the secondary school: 2 What the schools are doing

Robert Bell, a 17‐year‐old sixthformer at The Park School, Swindon, showed me his hovercraft — or, rather, what was left of it after its first trial. “One expert said it wouldn't work,” Robert told me. “Well, it did — there was a definite lift.” He explained how he had built his machine with wood from a cupboard door, a skirt made from a tyre inner tube, and an old vacuum cleaner motor. Unfortunately, during the trial insufficient clearance for the fan had resulted in six of its vanes snapping off. But Robert was undeterred. “It's just a case of making a new fan, which I hope to do next Tuesday,” he said.