STEAM / SE21

What is the SE21 Programme?

SE21 encompasses both physical spaces (SE21 Hubs) in our Colleges and Schools, and a learning programme that is offered in different forms inside and outside the curriculum.

S                STEAM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Maths

E                Entrepreneurship and Environmental Sustainability

21               21st Century Skills in our Approaches to Learning (ATL) Framework

SE21 is also a reference to our founding Dulwich College which sits in the SE21 London postcode and has always championed a pioneering spirit.

Our SE21 hubs provide opportunities for pitching ideas, robotics, coding, CAD/CAM, graphic design, film, digital, and virtual reality learning experiences. They are spaces where students engage in entrepreneurship and real-world problem solving, pulling in elements of engineering, filmmaking and project-based learning.

Our SE21 goals:

• SE21 represents much more than simply activities, programmes or spaces as we believe it is only through establishing a transformative learning culture that students will be able to develop skills and dispositions to successfully engage in life beyond graduation.
   
• Anticipating the future landscapes beyond university, SE21 will encompass a variety of opportunities within and outside of the curriculum that focus on experiential and project-based learning with real world application.
   
• SE21 will seek to improve character strengths to enable students to develop entrepreneurial skills adapted to new ways of imagining work in our growing gig economies. This will require the development of creative and financial literacy, as well as the ability to invent opportunities rather than follow established careers.
   
• As effective collaboration is the key to this future landscape, teamwork is a prominent feature of SE21 learning. Our bold ambition is to innovate in both the process and products of student learning in order to create a better world. The guiding principles of integrity and sustainability underpin our students’ engagement with life beyond School so they are not simply consumers but Worldwise contributors.

SE21 begins as early as Y1 and Y2, where students learn the steps of the Design Thinking Process (Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test) and apply them to solve the problems such as keeping our parks clean. Students will be introduced to Computational Thinking, diving into algorithms, patterns, abstraction and decomposition while through various unplugged games, iPad apps and robots.

As students get older, they begin to combine knowledge and skills in design, engineering and coding to create solutions to self-selected problems by collaborating with each other. For example, in one Year 9 Technology class, students decided to create sustainable chairs for younger students and in doing so, launched inquiries into anthropometrics, circular design and manufacturing processes.

Whole school SE21 activities such as our annual STEAM Expo provide further learning opportunities as well. Students are given 2 hours off-timetable to pick any 2 workshops or experience sessions offered by teachers, older student leaders, members of the IT department and even external providers. Workshops cover many areas of STEAM – machine learning, AI with python, visual music synthesis, LEGO robotics, photography and more.

Each of our Colleges and High Schools engage with SE21 in varying ways, in keeping with the SE21 spirit of adaptability and exploration. However, we have found that across the board, through SE21, students are engaged and feel empowered while developing the knowledge, skills and motivation to make a positive impact on the world around them.