printit.org.uk 1

PrintIT! Annual Report

MakeIT! Wood & Furniture 2013/14

Annual Report - August 2014

Contents1 About MakeIT!........................................................................................................................................................................2

1.1 2013/14 MakeIT! Aims.............................................................................................................................................. 2

1.2 The Industry................................................................................................................................................................... 3

2 MakeIT! 2013 /14................................................................................................................................................................. 4

2.1 The Project Overview.................................................................................................................................................. 5

3 Feedback & Survey Results................................................................................................................................................. 6

3.1 Teacher Feedback......................................................................................................................................................... 6

3.2 Student Feedback........................................................................................................................................................ 7

3.3 Evaluation of Student Feedback............................................................................................................................ 8

4 Finalists & Winners............................................................................................................................................................... 9

4.1 Winning Artwork........................................................................................................................................................ 11

5 Sponsors & Industry........................................................................................................................................................... 12

6 2014/15 MakeIT! Aims..................................................................................................................................................... 14

Appendix 1: About Proskills UK / MakeIT!..................................................................................................................... 17

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MakeIT! Annual Report

About MakeIT!1.0

Proskills’ Schools into Industry Programmes are industry-based projects and competitions for schools, mapped to the national curriculum and Diplomas. To date more than 140000 students and 2000 schools have taken part in Proskills Schools into Industry Programmes.

The aim of the Schools into Industry programmes is to familiarise students with industry through researching and designing products and investigating the various different aspects from sourcing raw materials to producing finished products. Each project asks students to research and design a product, identifying the type of raw materials used, considering sustainable design and investigating production processes as well as showing their understanding of environmental issues.

As part of the scheme, teachers are supplied with a guide to the programme, a series of prepared lesson plans, downloadable multi-media resources and interactive presentations. This helps to ensure consistent quality across the programme and helps teachers to link the programme to the national curriculum.

The programme culminates each year in an awards ceremony attended by a wide range of industry luminaries. All of the student projects are judged by a board of industry based judges, and some fantastic prizes are awarded to winning schools and individual students.

MakeIT! Furniture

MakeIT! Furniture is an industry-based project which aims to familiarise students with how furniture is designed and made in the Furniture, Furnishings and Interiors Industry through researching and designing products.

MakeIT! Wood

The MakeIT! Wood competition engages students with the wood and timber industries by asking students to research, design and produce a wood or timber structure.

1.1 2013/14 MakeIT! Aims

The main aims of MakeIT! are to inform and teach young people:

• About the Furniture, Furnishings & Interiors and Wood & Timber industries. • The basic skills needed for these sectors in both design and manufacturing• The careers available • The environmental concerns and raise awareness of the latest sustainable practices • The latest technologies and future of the sector

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1.2 The Industry

MakeIT! showcases the Furniture, Furnishings Wood and Timber industries in a positive light to young people.

UK furniture and furnishings manufacturing is a substantial industry. It contributes £9.4 billion to the country’s GDP, which equates to 1.7% of manufacturing output, and employs 116,000 people within 8,180 companies. In addition to this, the industry employs 17,000 in specialist furniture and furnishings retail and wholesale, 2,000 in repair, 7,000 in leasing and a proportion of the 42,000 registered specialist designers.

The Furniture and Furnishings industry has a high proportion of micro and small to medium size businesses. Looking solely at furniture manufacturing (i.e. excluding furnishings, retail, repair, design etc) only 260 companies report turnovers in excess of £5 million and 83% of companies turn over less than £1m per year; 58% less than £250,000. This pattern is reflected in employment figures with 78% of companies employing less than ten people, while only 30 companies employing more than 250.

Proskills estimates that the total size of the Wood & Timber production industry is around 60,000 people, with another 2,000 in adjacent roles in logging and forestry and a further 5,000 in direct downstream chain-of-custody transporters/wholesalers. Timber also has a complex supply chain. Valued by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) at over £8.5 billion, the forestry and timber products industry is placed 18th in the list of over 120 major industries in the UK.

MakeIT! aims to ensure young people are aware of the opportunities available in this sector

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MakeIT! 2013/142.0

The MakeIT! programme for 2013/14 was launched in September 2013.

A marketing campaign tailored around the launch of the programme consisted in press releases, adverts, social media campaign, online articles and information about the MakeIT! programme and details for registration were sent to all schools on the Proskills database.

MakeIT! e-shots were sent to 1064 teachers and phone calls were made to 1602 schools.

In addition, Proskills purchased further data on secondary schools in England and information on the 2013/14 MakeIT! programme was sent to a another 3500 schools. This promotional activity resulted in 1029 student registrations from thirty six schools. In total, 259 design entries from 11 schools were received by the competition closing date. These entries were judged by a panel of wood and furniture employers and industry representatives.

Dave Campbell British Woodworking Federation (BFM)

Sally Clarke Sally Clarke Furniture

Keith Fryer T Brewer

Chris Hyde Activate Learning

Gordon Jeffery Glennon Brothers

Mark Murphy James Donaldson & Sons Limited

Emily Payne Timber Trade Federation (TTF)

Richard Rankin Association of Master Upholsters & Soft Furnishers (AMUSF)

Tony Smart The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers

Elizabeth Turner TRADA

Charles Vernon The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers

25 finalists were chosen for 11 different categories. The finalists were invited to attend the 2014 MakeIT! Awards at the National Furniture Show at Rycotewood Furniture Centre, Oxfordshire on the 19th June 2014 where the winners were announced. Each finalist was presented with a certificate and a prize.

Figure 1: Summary of Outputs

Schools Contacted 5102

Participating Schools 38

Students Registered 1024

Competition Entries 132

A big thank y

ou to

the 2013/14 judges!

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MakeIT! Annual Report

For MakeIT! Furniture, students were asked:

• To produce a creative and imaginative design solution for a piece of furniture of your choice which will be manufactured using sustainable materials and an eco-friendly manufacturing process.

• To produce a creative and imaginative design solution for a chair which will be manufactured using sustainable materials and an eco-friendly manufacturing process.

For MakeIT! Wood students were asked to:

Research and design a product, identifying the type of raw materials used, considering sustainable design and investigating production processes. As part of the brief students had to also show an understanding of environmental issues in the Wood and Timber Industries.

Students were asked to choose from one of the following briefs:

• Produce a design solution for a wooden piece of playground equipment• Produce a design solution for an external structure. Students must also refer to laminated

wood called Glulam and how this is used in engineered wood industries within the building environment.

• Produce a design solution for decking of an outdoor classroom at your school

2.1 The Project Overview

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MakeIT! Annual Report

Feedback & Survey Results3.0

To assess whether the programme had a positive effect on the students and teachers, surveys were issued to measure its impact. These were administered via the student workbook and an online surveying tool.

The students were asked specific questions before and after they completed the course to whether their understanding of the industries were improved. The teachers were asked more general questions on the programme and their perceptions of how their students benefited at the end of the programme.

As part of the MakeIT! programme teachers were asked to complete a survey on how they viewed the programme. Teacher perception on how their students viewed the programme was positive and teachers enjoyed the project brief.

Feedback showed that:

• All teachers thought that their pupils enjoyed the MakeIT! programme• All teachers thought that the MakeIT programme gave their students a better insight

into career possibilities in the industry• All teachers said they would probably take part next year

Figure 2

“As a result of doing MakeIT! the following students expressed an interest in doing:”

Result:

an interest in working in the Furniture / Wood Industry? 100.00%

an interest in potentially doing an apprenticeship in the Furniture / Wood Industry? 75%

an interest in potentialy doing their work experience in the Furniture / Wood Industry? 75%

an interest in getting more information about the Furniture / Wood Industry? 75%

3.1 Teacher Feedback

Teacher Comments

MakeIT provides a really good focus for the students to produce work of very high quality and works with our examination board AQA.

The Make iT programme is a good initiative for pupils to work with a “real brief” and to give them an insight into the wood/furniture industry.

““

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MakeIT! Annual Report

Student surveys were administered before and after the programme to assess the students’ growth of understanding of the industry and career opportunities. The full results:

3.2 Student Feedback

LOADS

QUITE A LOT

SOME

NOT A LOT

NOTHING AT ALL

TAKING PART IN MAKEIT! STUDENTS KNEW THE FOLLOWING ABOUT THE INDUSTRIES:

BEFORE AFTER

1.

2.

0%9.43%

FURNITURE

0%25%

WOOD

5.66% 18.75%54.72%

37.74% 35%

47.17% 25%

9.43% 6.25%

31.25%

35.85% 43.75%

0% 0%

0% 0%

A CAREER IN THE INDUSTRY

DOING AN APPRENTICESHIP IN THE INDUSTRY

TAKING PART IN MAKEIT THE STUDENTS CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING:

BEFORE AFTER

9.43%19.23%

FURNITURE

28.57%43.75%

WOOD

7.55% 28.57%17.31%

24.53% 28.57%

52.83% 50%

28.3% 28.57%

31.25%

38.46% 56.25%

46.15% 56.25%

7.69%

DOING YOUR WORK EXP.IN THE INDUSTRY

GETTING MORE INFO ABOUT THE INDUSTRY

NONE OF THE ABOVE, I HAVE NO INTEREST IN INDUSTRY 0%

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MakeIT! Annual Report

AN INDUSTRY THAT IS EXCITING AND MODERN

AN INDUSTRY THAT WELCOMES DESIGN AND INNOVATION

AN INDUSTRY THAT IS ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY

AN INDUSTRY THAT REQUIRES SKILLED EMPLOYEES

AN INDUSTRY THAT OFFERS ITS EMPLOYEES GOOD CAREER PROSPECTS

3.

NONE OF THE ABOVE

Student Comments

It was great to have encouragement of eco friendly building products.

I loved Creating, designing and making our own individual piece of furniture!

The best part of the project was seeing the final product and how the designs had evolved through the process.

“““

Overall results of the student survey indicate a successful growth in their understanding of the wood & furniture industries. Before the programmes there were clear indications that the students did not have much knowledge about the industries with a combined percentage of 24% saying they knew “Quite a lot”. This saw a sharp rise to 85.97% after completion of the programme.

There were also healthy rises in their considerations of careers in the industry with nearly 62.92% saying they would “consider a career in the industry”, compared to 38% before the programme.

See section 6 for details of the programme’s future plans to ensure students are more aware of the industry’s latest technologies and skills.

3.3 Evaluation of Student Feedback

BEFORE TAKING PART IN MAKEIT STUDENTS VIEWED THE INDUSTRY AS:

BEFORE AFTER

32.69%43.40%

FURNITURE

20%62.5%

WOOD

63.46% 80%71.70%

21.15% 40%

51.92% 73.33%

25% 40%

75%

35.85% 56.25%

49.06% 62.50%

20.75% 62.50%

3.85%0%

6.67%0%

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MakeIT! Annual Report

Finalists & Winners4.0

The industry panel who carried out the judging for the competition identified 21 different categories for prizes.

MakeIT! Furniture

Year 9

Winner Evie Butler, King Alfreds Academy - Wantage, Oxfordshire

Finalist Rebekah Chitson, Henry Box School - Witney, Oxfordshire

Finalist Harry Souch, Henry Box School - Witney, Oxfordshire

Year 10

Winner Jake Wilburn, Altrincham College of Arts - Altrincham, Cheshire

Finalist Angel Westacott, Dene Magna - Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire

Finalist Finlay Poutney, Dene Magna - Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire

Year 12

Winner James Fitchett, Chatham & Clarendon - Ramsgate, Kent

Finalist Senura Kulinda Ratiyala, Chatham & Clarendon - Ramsgate, Kent

Finalist Issac James O’Connor, Chatham & Clarendon - Ramsgate, Kent

Finalist James Howard, Henry Box School - Witney, Oxfordshire

Best Process & Presentation

Winner James Mortley & Josh Steadman, Simon Langton Grammar School - Canterbury, Kent

Outstanding Project Work

Winner Toby Reed, Henry Box School - Witney, Oxfordshire

Judges special commendation

Winner Daniel Cornwall, Chatham & Clarendon - Ramsgate, Kent

Overall Winner due to the commerciality of the design

Winner Evie Butler, King Alfreds Academy - Wantage, Oxfordshire

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MakeIT! Wood

Year 9

Winner Jasmine Ashman, Henry Box School - Witney, Oxfordshire

Finalist Sebastian Zanre, Henry Box School - Witney, Oxfordshire

Finalist Tatiana Zanre, Henry Box School - Witney, Oxfordshire

Finalist Laurie Day, Henry Box School - Witney, Oxfordshire

Year 10

Winner Sam Blacker, St Albans Catholic High School - Ipswich, Suffolk

Finalist Stan Chick, Chatham and Clarendon - Ramsgate, Kent

Finalist Talya Amores, Chatham and Clarendon - Ramsgate, Kent

Finalist Enzo Ayrton Avery, Chatham and Clarendon - Ramsgate, Kent

Teacher of the year

Winner Thomas Brewin, Chatham and Clarendon - Ramsgate, Kent

Furniture Makers Project

Winner Natalie Godfrey, Henry Box School - Witney, Oxfordshire

Finalist Andrew Waller, Chatham and Clarendon - Ramsgate, Kent

As Part of the 2013/2014 MakeIT! Competition, MakeIT! Furniture teamed up with The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers on an exciting additional design project.

The Furniture Makers Company asked students to design a promotional A3 size poster targeted at young people to encourage them to consider a career in the Furniture, Furnishings and Interiors industries. Following a design brief, the students had to produce an informative poster to explain some of the career opportunities within the industries such as design, retail, manufacturing and distribution, and ideally containing case-studies from individuals representing various aspects of the furnishing industries.

The project which was welcomed by teachers, saw a huge range of posters being entered that were judged by a panel of industry experts. Their selected winner was Natalie Godfrey, a year 9 pupil from Henry Box School who provided a clear understanding of the careers available within the Furniture, Furnishings and Interiors industries.

Natalie was awarded with an all-expenses paid trip by DFS to their creative agency at Gratterpalms Offices in Leeds where she worked with the designers in developing her poster into a finished commercial piece and received a framed copy. The poster will also be sent out to schools across the UK to promote the furniture industry by The Furniture Makers Company.

4.1 Furniture Makers’ Project

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4.2 Winning Designs

Evie ButlerYear 9 & Overall Winner

Jake Wilburn Year 10

MakeIT Furniture

James FitchettYear 12

James Mortley & Josh Steadman Best Process & Presentation

Toby ReedHenry Box School

Daniel CornwallJudges special commendation

MakeIT! Wood

Jasmine AshmanYear 9

Sam BlackerYear 10

Natalie GodfreyFurniture Makers Project

BEFORE

Furniture Makers Project

AFTER WORKING WITH DFS MARKETING DEPARTMENT

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MakeIT! Annual Report

MakeIT! relies on the Wood & Furniture industry’s support and financial aid to ensure it’s success. The 2013/14 programme welcomed thirteen sponsors who supported the programme with both cash and prizes. Proskills has continued to invest in MakeIT! even though it has not received Government grant funding since March 2012.

A comprehensive sponsorship strategy was drawn up to raise the necessary capital ensuring continuing support for the students and schools throughout the school year. Sponsors were also asked to contribute towards the awards ceremony with prizes and gifts.

Sponsors

The 2013/14 sponsors included manufacturers, training providers and more:

Sponsors & Industry 5.0

• Activate Learning• Association of Master Upholsters & Soft

Furnishers (AMUSF)• British Furniture Manufactures (BFM)• British Woodworking Federation (BWF)• Didac• Glennon Brothers

• James Donaldson & Sons Ltd.• James Latham • Sally Clarke Furniture• T Brewer• The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers• TRADA• Timber Trade Federation (TTF)

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Gifts & Prizes

All the winners and finalists received goody bags and prizes for their achievements. Overall winner Evie Butler was awarded the prize for the commercialism and originality of her chair design, and received an invite to the students evening at the The Furniture Makers’ Company plus an array of prizes.

Awards Venue

The awards ceremony was held at the National Furniture Show at Rycotewood Furniture Centre, Oxford. Attracting a host of industry professionals and finalist schools, the event celebrated the hard work and achievements of the thousands of students who took part in this year’s MakeIT! Furniture and MakeIT! Wood competitions.

A big thank you to all our 2013/14 sponsors for making the awards possible!

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2014/15 MakeIT! Aims 6.0

Proskills has big plans in motion to celebrate its 10th birthday in 2015, with a new ambitious vision to help support the programme’s growth, reach and longevity in growing more budding talent.

To help create an environment which ensures the long-term self-sustainability of MakeIT! an exciting raft of changes are being made in order to enhance the learner participation and experience, and to ensure MakeIT!’s long term survival.

NEW Charitable status

Proskills UK has already evolved its organisation into a Registered Charity (no 1155635) with the primary aim to promote, advance, and provide training and education for persons working in or intending to work in the material, production and supply industries. The Schools Into Industry programmes fall within the aims and scope of the Proskills Registered Charity.

This now means that donations are eligable to be tax deductable which has to be good news. It also means we can make limited funds go that bit further in support of the charitable aims.

NEW Trustees

To underpin both MakeIT! and Proskills, new trustees will be sought from Wood/Furniture industries. These trustees will support MakeIT! with expertise and guidance ensuring long-term sustainability and succes

The NEW aims of the SIIPS are to:

3 Provide students with an exciting insight and hands-on experience into industries

3 Provide students with an opportunity to understand and experience potential career paths, employment and training opportunities

3 Enable students to access further education, apprenticeships and employment in the industries through a supported approach

3 Provide schools and teachers with current industry developed and curriculum mapped education materials

3 To challenge environmental issues and raise awareness of the very latest developments in sustainable practices

3 To deliver a self-financing programme that is free of charge to schools and students like.

The key ambitions for 2015 are:

Programme content

• Update core programme content to reflect current advanced industry technology and exciting innovations, bringing science to the forefront

• Include more interactive and dynamic content and improve accessibility to content through mobile devices

• Provide enhanced creative participant projects so as to provide an improved learning experience• More detailed study of potential career options and access points• Update the mapping of the programme content to the latest school curriculum• Offer of work experience opportunities to older participants

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Careers support & progression

• Updated links to supporting careers information, guidance and advice• Provision of new careers information packs to support teacher delivery• Creation of Careers Ambassadors in schools (advisors)• Provide new careers support paths enabling participants to access apprenticeships, further education

and jobs• Develop new opportunities for employers and industry specialist ambassadors to share careers

experiences through study tours and interviews• Integrate National Careers Service and National Apprenticeship Service support and help into the

programme• Implement a tracking framework to provide participant progression and outcomes data and follow-

up processes

Programme reach

• Dedicate more resources to support increased schools engagement• Access more schools through key supporting programme partners

Industry partnership

• Increase the number of supporting employers through a new and sustained campaign of long-term engagement

• Create new sponsorship packages to drive up the financial and in-kind support for the programmes to make them self-sustaining

• Diversify the number of industry sectors and sub-sectors actively supporting the programme• A new annual report produced and disseminated that demonstrates the ongoing high-value and

impact of SIIPS on young people and to the industries included

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Objectives

GOALS STRATEGIES ACHIEVEMENTS

Double the number of student participants compared with 2013/14

• Develop programme content, materials and supporting technology to make participation more attractive to students

• Develop targeted PR & gain more support from industry

3 2,000 registered students

3 10% of registered students submiting MakeIT! entries

3 75% of registered MakeIT! students in 14 to 18 age range

3 200 students participated in new Careers Insight events

Double the number of participating schools

• Increase resources to drive up school recruitment

• Utilise partnerships with organisations who have existing links to schools

3 60 schools registered

3 40% of registered schools have students who submit a MakeIT! entry

3 10 schools participate in new Careers Insight events

Develop careers information, guidance and advice

• Design, produce and disemmination student careers information packs/furniture makers packs

• Develop clearer career path options for students

3 2,000 students received MakeIT! careers packs

3 200 students received documented careers information, guidance and advice

3 Develop 5 employer delivered Careers Insight events

Support students into apprenticeships or further education

• Integrate National Apprenticeship Service

• Creation of and support school-based Careers Ambassadors

• Integrate work experience opportunities within industry

• Develop and implement participant progression tracking

3 5 school teachers became MakeIT! Careers Ambassadors (pilot)

3 25 students enter industry-related further education or apprenticeships

3 5 Student progression case studies developed and disseminated

Proskills UK’s aims are to promote, advance, and provide training and education for persons working in or intending to work in the material, production and supply industries, and in Health & Safety.

We develop national occupational standards and apprenticeship frameworks which are freely available for public use in the following industries:

• Building Products (Bricks, Blocks, Paving and Concrete Precast etc)• Ceramics and Whitewares (Pottery, Tiles, Toilets, Sinks, Baths, Clay etc)• Coatings & Paints (All forms of paint and material coatings)• Furniture, Furnishings & Interiors (All forms of furniture and furnishings)• Glass & Glazing (All forms of glass manufacture, installation and surveying)• Cross-sector Occupational Health & Safety (Occupational Health and Safety, non-sector specific)• Paper & Corrugated Cardboard (All forms of paper and card manufacture)• Printing and Inks Manufacturing (All forms of printing, including digital and ink manufacturing)• Wood and Timber (Trade and Timber yards and merchants, Saw Mills, Wood Processing)

These industries make up a third of the UK Process and Manufacturing Sector.

Proskills UK is a registered charity no: 1155635.

MakeIT! Furniture & Wood are both an industry-based project and competition for schools, mapped to the national curriculum and Diplomas.

It familiarises students with how furniture or wood is designed and manufactured in the Furniture, Furnishings and Interiors (FFI) Industry or Wood Industry, through researching and designing products and investigating the various different aspects of the industry – from sourcing raw materials to producing finished products.

The project asks students to research and design a product, identifying the type of raw materials used, considering sustainable design and investigating production processes as well as showing their understanding of environmental issues. Students are asked to create a piece of either furniture or wood based with a new closer look into the materials used, their origins, uses and sustainability. Teachers are supplied with a guide that includes a series or prepared lesson plans, downloadable interactive multi-media resources and interactive presentations.

Programme Contacts

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Appendix 1: About Proskills UK / MakeIT!

Proskills UK GroupJonathan LedgerManaging Director

Mobile +44 (0) 7711 751 537Email jonathan.ledger@proskills.co.uk

Amy Moran Marketing Manager

Mobile +44 (0) 7551 126 262Email amy.moran@proskills.co.uk

Danielle O’Sullivan Marketing Executive

Mobile +44 (0) 7827 158 641Email danielle.osullivan@proskills.co.uk

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Proskills UK GroupUnit 24 East Central, 127 Olympic Avenue,Milton Park , Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 4SAUnited Kingdom

Telephone +44 (0)1235 432 030Website www.proskills.co.ukEmail info@proskills.co.uk

Proskills Group is made up of: