Enemy Of Boredom Academy Newsletter October 2024

Welcome everyone to the October ’24 edition of the Enemy of Boredom newsletter.

The Music Course is coming!

'There’s an air of anticipation and positive energy with a new school year. I’m happy to report back that our students are buzzing with it too.

It’s a magical process to learn about the creativity that goes in behind some of the most successful games and learn how to create your own digital worlds. It’s only the end of October and each student at the EOB Academy is turning their ideas and now learnt commercial knowledge into designs and games for their futures at EOB.

Whilst they’re busy with their projects, Enemy of Boredom is making leaps and bounds with growth both for the Academy and across the country as we connect with industry people to improve more young people’s lives with SEND. Our team is growing and we’re excited to share what’s been happening so far for students, teachers and parents below.

Read on to see student work, new faces, news and hear our exciting announcement for January 2025'.

Steve Godwin, Creator and CEO at EOB

Student Highlights

Foundations for future success

If we told you to design a health bar for a pixel art dungeon game would you know where to start?

Well our Online Level One students do and they’ve dived straight into the challenge of creating one. Understanding every aspect of game design on a minute level are the key foundations to success later on in the course and the commitment to learning that we see across the classroom is inspirational.

As good as Super Mario? Maybe one day …

The world’s most successful platformer game is still played by millions of people worldwide every. Single. Day. The need for more games of this genre cannot be ignored so over in Bracknell, our Level 2 students are exploring the world of 3D platformers. They’ve researched the current gaming market - essential to keep reviewing as innovation, technology and consumer trends are always changing. Now they’re living their best life and designing creative design concepts for their own games. This serves as the blueprints for bringing their creations to life using globally respected developer software: Unreal Engine. Here’s an insight into their process …

A world of development expertise

Every first person shooting style game has levels and over on our Letchworth campus, our Level Three students have been using world-leading software UNITY to create their own. Thanks to the ongoing genius of our tutors, they used a first person shooter asset pack made in-house by the Enemy of Boredom team. Of course, having a first person shooter player avatar means that it would be weird not to also add an enemy AI system to fight while testing the game properly … And so it grows …

Student BH Work

Student ThW Work

Check out this design from ToW. He’s used the assets and created his own modelled arms with a gun and, to add to the story aspect behind the game, a time-travelling watch. In the game he’s also made a time travelling mechanic. We can’t wait to play the final product.

We Don’t Need No Education

Pink Floyd

Know those lyrics? Well they sum up what’s coming to Enemy of Boredom this January 2025 … we’re launching our very own music course, led by our students and guided by a supportive and qualified staff of musicians and engineers. It’s been something that has been bubbling for sometime and in true EOB style, there’s no half measures. The course will be supported by some of the UK's best music producers, events and product companies working alongside qualified and experienced musicians and production engineers.

Steve said: ‘Music was a massive part of my life which changed me from being a confused neurodiverse young person to one with more confidence, direction, satisfaction and eventually work - this is something I share in common with many of our staff at Enemy Of Boredom and something we can now offer as part of our Academy’.

Here is a sneak peak of the studio room after being painted. Seriously looking forward to hearing new music from new talented minds.

Request more information here.

And a peak at Nick Plews (who will be heading up the Music course in Letchworth) showing his excitement for the new course:

Great success at the TES SEND Show

We have to say a massive thank you to everyone at the TES Show for making Enemy Of Boredom feel so welcome. To be able to connect, share stories with and spark ideas with so many guests and exhibitors energised us even more in our mission to provide education and opportunities for work for SEND students.

Our team came away from the event feeling part of a much bigger network and more confident in the knowledge that there are so many friendly people in our industry - we’re all here to create positive change and help young people succeed. The ideas and collaborations don’t stop there though, if you’ve got a concept that you feel would help us to help young people to succeed then please contact us at the link below as we’d love to talk further.

Please give a huge EOB welcome to our new Head Teacher, Tracey Clark

We couldn’t be more pleased and proud to share the news that Enemy of Boredom has appointed Tracey Clark to the position of Head Teacher. A familiar face to many, she has already taught and inspired so many students at the Academy and has the right passion, knowledge and empathy to lead the students and staff at this level.

Tracey says:

'I have always been passionate about helping young people with neurodiverse minds reach their full potential. With years of experience in SEN education, I bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to my role.

I believe that every child has the potential to succeed and it's my job to create an environment of high quality education where all students can thrive, regardless of their abilities or challenges.

I work closely with parents, teachers, and other professionals to ensure that all students receive the support they need to succeed'.

Good things are happening across Hertfordshire …

Congratulations to team member Nick Plews, who is now stepping into the role of our Director of Operations in the Hertfordshire area.

Nick is an experienced education leader with a passion for creating engaging and effective learning environments. With over 10 years of experience he has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing students and educators alike - essential knowledge for EOB.

Nick says:

‘My role means that I am responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of EOB including course development, student recruitment, and staff management. As well as that, I am now heading up Enemy Of Boredom’s new Music course in Letchworth.

I am proud to be known for my innovative approach, caring nature and my ability to create a positive and supportive learning environment for all students’.

Nick, like all our team members’, is committed to providing students with a high-quality education that prepares them for success at EOB and beyond.

Parents and Carers - essential download below

It’s important to us to support parents as much as we support our students, so every newsletter we send out will contain a link to download supportive information that will help you to support each young person’s time at the Academy and beyond. These are created by experts in the field of SEND that we continually collaborate with. Our first download shows how to address tech and online safety to a neurodivergent listener: