Design and Technology
Head of Department: Mr W Kelly
With technology progressing rapidly it is more important than ever for students to have a secure knowledge of design and technology. We aim to provide our students with opportunities to engage in invigorating, challenging, high quality technological and design based experiences. The Design Technology department offers pupils the opportunity to develop high level designing and making skills as well as significant opportunities to develop as independent learners. Design and Technology is a very popular uptake from Year 8 into Year 9 and has produced excellent results at GCSE level.
British designers are celebrated all over the world for their creativity and innovation but the real strength of our industry has, and always will, lie in education.
Sir Terence Conran
curriculum intent
In Design & Technology, we want our students to be confident in the use of a wide range of different workshop tools and equipment, Be fully competent in all areas relating to health & safety and know how to conduct safe practices in a workshop/ kitchen environment. One of our main goals is to make students fully aware of the career opportunities available to students who develop strong skill sets in Design & Technology and ensure that they are aware that Design & Technology will provide them with the necessary skills and knowledge for careers in Engineering, Architecture, Product design and any other creative industry. In order to fully prepare them for this the Claremont Design & Technology department places a very strong emphasis on ensuring we provide a modern, up to date and engaging curriculum that provides students with the necessary skills for an ever changing and evolving industry.
Key stage 3
Year 7 & 8 – Design & Technology Rotation
Topics Covered:
- Unit 1 – CAD CAM
- Unit 2 – Product Design & Manufacture
- Unit 3 – Food and Nutrition
During Year 7 and 8 students will study Design & Technology as part of a rotation system where they will have the opportunity to study three key areas and disciplines. Each rotation will last one Term and all students will have the opportunity to cover all three areas.
The Year 8 Rotation builds upon the skills and knowledge gained in Year 7.
Year 9 – Technology
Topics Covered:
- CAD CAM
- Product Design & Manufacture – Project 1
- Product Design & Manufacture – Project 2
- Graphical Skills and visual communication
- Electronics
Year 9 – Food
Topics Covered:
- Health & Safety in the kitchen
- Food And Nutrition
- Dietary Needs
- Food Provenance
- Planning and running a family run restaurant
- NEA style
Assessment
Across the year, students studying Design & Technology will cover all of the following assessment strands.
- Research
- Development of Design Ideas
- Manufacturing of Final Product
- Testing and Evaluation
- Communication & Presentation of Design Folder
For each project there will be specific assessment task that students will need to complete. These specific tasks will be formally marked and assessed.
Key Stage 4
Technology
At KS4 Stage 4 pupils will continue to develop and build upon the core technical principles that they have gained as part of their foundation year. Pupils will do this by undertaking a range of design and make assignments. In each of these assignment students will be given a different design brief that they must follow.
Each project is tailored to teach pupils a specific part of the AQA GCSE Design and Technology specification. Over the course of year 10 and 11 students will undertake several of these projects which cover all of the areas outlined in the GCSE specification.
Units covered in Year 10:
- CAD CAM – 2D Design – Architectural Project
- Materials theory and manufacture Techniques
- Graphical skills and visual communication
- Product Design – Minor Project
- NEA (Non exam Assessment) Start of their Final major project (leads into year 11)
Units covered in Year 11:
In Year 11 pupils will undertake a final major project which will count as 50% of their final GCSE grade. At the end of year 11 students will sit a 2 hour exam which will make up the remaining 50% of their grade.
During Year 11 students will cover:
Unit 1 – NEA Final Major Project
Unit 2 – Paper 1:
- Core Technical Principles
- Specialist Technical Principles
- Designing & Making Principles
Year 11 Design & Technology GCSE Specification
Food
At KS4 Stage 4 Food pupils will continue to develop and build upon the key skills that they have gained as part of their foundation year. Pupils will do this by undertaking a range of practical investigations into a wide variety of different food and nutrition topics.
Topics covered in Year 10:
- Food Safety
- Nutrients
- Food Provenance
- Dairy and Alternatives
- Beans & Pulses
- Meat, Fish & eggs
Each of these topic areas will be delivered with theory and practical assessments.
Topics covered in Year 11:
Students will follow the OCR Food and nutrition GCSE specification. Students will cover three units within this specification:
- Unit 1 – Written Exam Paper – Food Preparation and nutrition (50% of final GCSE)
- Unit 2 - NEA 1 – Food investigation task (15% of Final GCSE grade)
- Unit 3 – NEA 1 – Food preparation task (35% of final GCSE grade)
Year 11 Food & Nutrition GCSE Specification
Key Stage 5
A Level Design and Technology: Product Design (3-D Design) helps students take a broad view of design and technology, develop their capacity to design and make products and appreciate the complex relations between design, materials, manufacture and marketing. This course will continue to provide students with the opportunity to design and make both aesthetically pleasing and functional products across the two year course. Students will realise their design ideas through a range of materials, manufacturing techniques and processes including CAD and CAM.
Assessment
Enrichment
- STEM clubs run at Lunchtime and after school including CAD CAM, Coding & Robotics
- STEM partnership with Brunel university.
- Students attend trips to Brunel University to take part in workshops and competitions.
- Design club: Students undertake a range of projects including T shirt printing, upcycling and recycling project.
Next Steps
- Engineering (Design and Technology provides a large number of transferable skills for careers in Mechanical, automotive and aeronautical engineering courses)
- Architecture – Over the last few years a high percentage (approximately 75%) of our A Level students have gone to study Architecture at University
- Product & Industrial Design
- Animation & Game design