Zephyr Immersion
Two weeks where design thinking meets the wind. Sustainable design, coastal STEM, prototyping and a group project that solves a real local problem.
Coastal STEM
Design studio
Design thinking, with salt water on it.
Zephyr (named after the West-of-England sea breeze) is a programme for students who like to make things and think systemically. Two weeks at Shebbear College on the edge of Dartmoor and twenty minutes from the Devon coast, blending design thinking with field STEM and sustainability.
Mornings are design seminars led by a working industrial designer and a sustainability engineer; afternoons are workshop time in the school’s D&T studios; field days are split between the coast and the moor. The whole programme builds towards a final group project: a working prototype that addresses a real Devon-coast sustainability problem — previous cohorts have tackled plastic-in-rockpools, micro-tidal energy and rural-Wi-Fi access.
Why this programme matters
The world increasingly rewards people who can move between disciplines. Zephyr deliberately fuses three: design (the human-centred craft), STEM (the underlying physics, biology, software) and sustainability (the constraints that now define every brief). The students who emerge are unusually well-equipped — for engineering, architecture, product design or any role that has the word “sustainability” quietly attached to it.
Programme structure
- Day01
Arrival & design briefing
Heathrow pick-up, coach to Shebbear, welcome dinner. Evening: site-walk of the school’s D&T studios; problem statements circulated.
- Day02–03
Design thinking & field discovery
Two days on design thinking fundamentals plus a coast day at Hartland and a moor day on Dartmoor — the goal: choose a real problem worth solving.
- Day04–06
Sketch, model, test
Cardboard prototyping, 3D-printed iterations, user feedback loops in pairs. A short field trip to a working renewable-energy site.
- Day07
Sustainability lecture & project commit
Visiting sustainability engineer leads a seminar. Each group commits to its final-week project and writes a design brief.
- Day08–11
Build week
Four days of build, test, iterate. Daily design reviews. One field day mid-week to revisit the problem location.
- Day12
Exeter & museum day
A day in Exeter: the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, a coastal-engineering walk along the canal, supper in the cathedral close.
- Day13
Final exhibition
A working exhibition of prototypes in the D&T atrium, judged by a visiting industrial designer. Families join by livestream.
- Day14
Farewell & return
Goodbye breakfast, prototypes packed (or shipped) home, coach back to Heathrow with our chaperones.
Why makers love this programme.
For students who like to build, to question, to wander between disciplines — and who think the future of design is necessarily sustainable.
Design thinking, taught well
The Stanford d.school methodology, taught by an industrial designer working in London — not from a textbook.
Sustainability as default
Every project is constrained by a sustainability brief. You learn to design within real planetary limits.
Coastal & moor STEM
Field days on the Devon coast and Dartmoor — sampling, surveying, and bringing the data back into the studio.
A working prototype
You leave with a 3D-printed and hand-finished prototype that solves a real local problem.
Group project, real critique
A final exhibition judged by a visiting industrial designer — honest, constructive, taken seriously.
Portfolio-grade artefact
Prototype, sketchbook, photographs and reflection — portfolio material for architecture, engineering or design programmes.
What you take home.
Both a physical artefact and a documented design process — a portfolio-grade entry for any design-school application.
- A working prototype, 3D-printed and hand-finished, addressing a named sustainability brief.
- A design sketchbook documenting research, ideation, prototyping and iteration.
- Photographic record of your process and exhibition piece — portfolio-ready.
- Working knowledge of human-centred design, rapid prototyping and basic CAD.
- Sustainability literacy — lifecycle thinking, materials science basics, circular-economy framing.
- Group critique experience — how to give and receive design feedback.
- A signed reference from your design tutor, naming specific skills demonstrated.
- Certificate of completion co-issued by Shebbear College and Aspirational Editech.
For the maker, 14–17.
Especially suited to students considering engineering, product or industrial design, architecture, environmental science or anything where you build a thing to test an idea.
- Ages 14–17, no prior design or CAD experience required.
- Conversational English for seminars and group work.
- A maker’s instinct — you would rather build than describe.
- Considering engineering, design or architecture at university.
- Comfortable with outdoor field days in variable weather.
Life on the programme
A look inside the campus, the classrooms and the moments in between.
Transparent, all-in pricing.
One fee covers studios, materials, field days and the final exhibition. The full list is below.
Programme fee
Covers every element of the programme — from arrival at Heathrow to your final farewell.
- Two weeks’ full board at Shebbear College
- All design seminars and workshop tuition
- Materials, 3D-printing filament and sketchbooks
- Use of D&T studios, laser cutter and CAD stations
- Two coastal field days; one Dartmoor day
- Renewable-energy site visit
- Exeter day-trip and museum entries
- Final exhibition with visiting industrial designer
- All meals on campus and out
- UK Standard Visitor visa support and submission
- Comprehensive student travel insurance
- our chaperones throughout, 24/7 parent support line
- Signed reference, certificate and digital sketchbook posted home
Optional extras
Items we don’t bundle in — either because they vary or because families prefer to choose.
- International flights (add-on from BLR, BOM or DEL)
- Personal pocket money (£150–£200 recommended)
- Shipping of unusually large prototypes (rare; case-by-case quote)
- Specialist personal kit beyond standard outdoor wear
Easy payments
Three-instalment plan at no extra cost. Pay in INR or GBP.
Sibling discount
5% off the second sibling on the same trip. School group rates available.
Refundable deposit
A £500 deposit secures your seat; balance due eight weeks before departure.
What sets this programme apart.
A practising designer as tutor
Your lead tutor is a working industrial designer — not a school art teacher with a side interest.
Sustainability as the brief, not the addendum
Every project must answer to a planetary constraint. The hardest, most modern design lesson.
Devon as a design problem
You design for a specific place — with weather, salt, granite and broadband as material conditions.
Your journey, step by step.
From the first enquiry to the warm hug back at the airport — we walk every metre with you.
Enquire & speak
A 20-minute call — we talk previous making, design interest and any portfolio you have started.
Apply & pay deposit
Short written application plus a £500 refundable deposit. Visa file begins.
Onboarding pack
Six weeks out: kit list, light pre-reading, parent WhatsApp group, named contacts. Optional CAD primer.
Programme & portfolio
Two weeks at Shebbear. Daily parent updates, exhibition, signed reference and digital sketchbook posted home.
Looked after, every step of the way.
Academic guidance, pastoral care and emotional wellbeing aren’t separate departments — they’re woven through every day of the programme.
Academic
A lead design tutor mentors each group through the project. Daily design reviews built in.
Pastoral
our house parent on site at all times. Nightly check-ins, quiet workshop time always available.
Emotional
Design critique can sting at first. Our counsellor and tutor team build a culture of generous, honest feedback — and a private space for anyone who needs it.
Pathways this programme opens.
A short programme that quietly compounds — the conversations, the projects and the references open doors years later.
Engineering & product design
A serious portfolio entry for university applications — especially industrial design, mechanical engineering and product design degrees.
Architecture & built environment
Field-to-prototype work translates directly into the architecture portfolio process.
Sustainability & climate roles
A growing graduate space across engineering consultancies, NGOs and corporates.
Design entrepreneurship
For students considering a maker-led venture — a strong first attempt at the full design cycle.
What students and parents tell us.
I went thinking I wanted to be an engineer. I came back thinking I wanted to be an industrial designer. The Devon coast became my classroom in a way I cannot explain.
The final exhibition piece is on his university portfolio. Two weeks gave him a better artefact than two years of school D&T.
It was so much more rigorous than I expected. They actually had to design to a brief, defend their choices, listen to critique. That alone was transformative.
Questions, answered.
A fortnight where you make something — for somewhere.
Places are limited and tend to fill 6–8 weeks before departure. Speak to our team to walk through dates, paperwork and everything we handle on your behalf.
