Design Technology

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Aims

  • to provide pupils with opportunities and encouragement to use their intellectual and practical skills to solve problems, initially by research and analysis and then by developing a viable solution which they manufacture.
  •  by the end of Third Year (Year 9), it is intended to instil an understanding of design and problem solving. Pupils should also have practical experience, a knowledge of graphics and an awareness of the working properties of basic materials (e.g. wood, metal and plastics). 

In Fourth and Fifth Year (Years 10-11) interest is further developed by increasing the depth of study and by broadening the tasks undertaken. From September 2010, pupils will follow the AQA D&T - Product Design syllabus for their GCSE studies.

In the Sixth Form, students follow the AQA D&T Product Design course at both AS and A2 Level. This is proving popular amongst pupils wishing to add to their GCSE results in this area of the curriculum.

Teaching approach

This varies in response to the nature of the topics being taught and to the needs of the pupils. There are several approaches which have proved successful and provide a teaching environment which is friendly, organised and productive, but which also remains disciplined. Workshops are made available 3 times a cycle and after school once a week for either extended work or individual projects.

The members of staff in the department are committed to the success of all pupils. They are available at all times to assist pupil progress and extra sessions in the workshop are provided when necessary. Examination pupils are given the freedom to express themselves within the context of the syllabus. Enthusiasm shown by pupils will be matched or surpassed by any member of the departmental staff.

Facilities and resourcesDesign Technology workshop

  • There are two workshops, comprehensively equipped with both hand and machine tools. We cater for a full range of resistant materials. (Benches are of the multi-media type, each having two vices, two drawing boards for design activities and a set of woodworking tools and are self contained, independent work stations.)
  • The machine room with two circular saws, a dimension saw, an under & over planing machine, a band saw and a morticer is used to prepare materials for pupil projects.
  • There is also drawing office, able to accommodate 12 pupils. It has drafting units and a range of graphics materials. In this room there are 12 computers linked to the school network which are used to help provide research for coursework projects and also have CAD packages for designing. We currently use ‘Techsoft 2D Design’ and ‘CorelDraw 11’ as principle packages for designing.
  • Next to the drawing office is a CAM laser cutting machine this is used to realise design ideas for certain products. It is a relatively new addition to the department and is extremely popular with pupils.
  • A Departmental Library is also available, with wide range of books to help pupils further their research.

Courses offered

First Year pupils cover graphics, a project in acrylic, a project in metal, and a project in wood.

Second Year pupils undertake a multi - media project, a unit on use of drawing boards and a number of problem solving tasks.

Third Years tackle a storage-based project, a design/graphics task, a resistant materials unit and a course of CAD manufacture. By the end of the three years pupils will have an A3 Design Folio to show all elements of Key Stage 3 as well as highlighting pupil progress over that period.

Fourth and Fifth Year pupils follow the AQA Product Design course.

In the Sixth Form, the AS and A2 Level courses are the AQA Product Design course which comprises Design Technology theory, CAD, and extensive practical coursework projects.