Nestled in the heart of Shropshire is a traditional grammar school with a modern attitude about teaching the academics of the future. In an environment focused on maths and science is a department that has a history of fighting for attention, respect and GCSE-level students — the Design and Technology (D&T) department.
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We have all heard stories of that one teacher, the one who comes along once in a blue moon, who gives their life and soul for their teaching, who breathes life into their lessons and whose passion will leave an imprint on their pupils years after they have left the school. Cue Mr Andrew Jones, head of D&T, whose love of his subject, of educating and of the bicycle, is revolutionising the department and giving the children he teaches skills for life that many grown adults can only dream about.
“Teaching can sometimes begin to feel like Groundhog Day if you don’t create change,” Jones tells us, and he is speaking from experience having given 12 years to Adams’ Grammar School. And change he has created, by effectively turning the D&T department from what was once a cabin at the back of the grounds competing for GCSE students into a frame building workshop that is having a far-reaching effect on the kids beyond the walls of the classroom; up to 60 miles beyond, in the case of Andrew Campbell who regularly meets a friend to ride out into the countryside on the bike that he built himself.
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Where it all began
Let’s go back to the beginning and tell the story as it unfolded, from an unlikely idea initiated by Jones in 2012 that was soon backed by the enthusiastic staff around him. Jones was already building frames in his own time under the brand name Moss Bikes. It was a sideline that he kept very separate from his teaching job and for a while he led something of a double life until it clicked — he could teach the pupils how to make bikes, too!
To some frame builders, the idea that this mythologised art could be rolled out in a GCSE syllabus might seem like a breakaway from the guild but a friendly phone call to Andrew Denham from The Bicycle Academy (a community bike building workshop) verified his position on the democratisation of skills. A chat with the deputy head became a Powerpoint presentation to the governors, which was then repeated to the department staff and finally explained to the pupils. It became a reality very quickly, as each stage was met with a resounding ‘yes’. It was a wonderful starting point, but suddenly there was a lot of pressure to make it work.
The handful of year 10 students who took up the subject in 2012 were told that over the course of the next two years they would be tasked with creating a road bike brand, designing their bike on CAD software and working out the necessary compromises, culminating with building the frame and assembling the parts into a fully functioning bicycle.
Designing the bike
Future results
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