Curriculum Intent

UTC Oxfordshire intent statement

What we teach and why we teach it

Our students benefit from a focused and rich curriculum with Science and Engineering excellence at its core.  This develops employability skills and deepens their understanding, opening doors to future successes.  Students are empowered to think and act confidently and with professionalism which allows them to compete to be the candidate of choice in the world renown, local companies’ workforce.  Students work independently to master their subjects and apply their knowledge. Students participate with determination in their learning and in a wide range of enterprising employer led programmes and co-curricular activities. They are equipped with life skills, the ability to collaborate with their peers developing resilience and respect and they take pride in serving and contributing to their local community.

Our individualised approach to learning combines lessons delivered by experts and draws on real world examples.   Individualised programmes are informed by assessment and grounded in excellent subject knowledge. 

Appropriate technologies, which reflect the tools of the workplace, are used creatively and intelligently to enrich learning and work in partnership to connect parents, students, employers and teachers. 

Specialisms

Alongside the core curriculum, students at the UTC have the opportunity to specialise in an area of specific interest:

Specialism	Assisted by industry partners
Life sciences	Oxford Instruments OBN (formerly Oxfordshire Bioscience Network)
Physical sciences	UK Atomic Energy Authority (formerly known as Culham Centre for Fusion Energy – CCFE) RM Education Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Satellite Applications Catapult
Engineering	UK Atomic Energy Authority (formerly known as Culham Centre for Fusion Energy – CCFE) MINI Plant Oxford Unipart

All specialisms are designed to enhance skills and knowledge, as well as to increase the opportunity for success in the core subjects, GCSEs, A-levels and BTEC qualifications. Specialist study will provide a valuable differentiator for students when they are applying for higher education or employment.

Focusing on a particular specialism will not reduce a student’s options in the future. As well as sciences and engineering, the courses available at UTC Oxfordshire will enable students to access a variety of science, engineering and even humanities subjects at university and offer multiple pathways to employment.

In order to plan, maintain and improve the state-of-the-art facilities at the mini plant and continually improve the quality of our cars, we need to foster the development of talented young engineers and technicians to become the mini associates of the future. The UTC supports this objective by providing us with a steady stream of suitable candidates.

Dr Simon Farrall, Head of Apprentice and Associate Training, MINI plant Oxford

Specialisms are delivered through:

a blended combination of instructor led seminars
project-based learning
employer expert input, either onsite, via video conferencing or through mentors visiting the UTC
independent learning assignments