Motor vehicle & road user studies department
Motor Vehicle Studies, as the pupils tend to call it, continues to be a popular choice at GCSE. With some 40% of the course being practically-based, pupils are keen to get to grips with the set of skills required. Learning to ride one of our 50cc scooters in the playground is always one of the highlights, with even the most reluctant and inexperienced at the start of the course managing to pass a rudimentary test by the time they finish the course. Solving the mystery of what goes on inside an engine is always a fascinating discovery. Watching traffic on the local roads can be quite another kind of education...
One element of the GCSE course is an investigation of actual traffic conditions locally. We have chosen to study the two mini-roundabouts on the Castlerock Road in Coleraine, which means going there and basing our project on our observations.Last time we were heading that way, it just happened to be practice day for the North West 200!
Class discussions range far and wide, since road use is never far from the headlines in the media. Every individual pupil has their own bank of experiences and stories to tell, many amusing, some even scary. Each is obviously looking forward to the day when they can put so much of their new learning into practice – practicing for and passing their driving or riding test for real, then searching for, buying, maintaining and even modifying their own vehicle. Pupils find the course ideal for this, as it prepares them to some degree for each aspect of their ‘real’ test, and lays out the pitfalls and pleasures of vehicle ownership. We can only hope that at the same time, the core value of safe road use sticks – none of our pupils knows when it might save their life or the life of someone else!
So next time you are driving along the Castlerock Road in Coleraine, and you see a group of pupils in Dunluce uniforms with clipboards, standing beside the 2 mini-roundabouts, show them how good drivers use the road. Remember, in the few short years you will be sharing the roads withthem!