Design and Technology

We have a newly renovated state-of-the-art Design and Technology suite.  With creativity at its heart, DT provides students with the opportunity to communicate how their design ideas can be translated into a making process. Students develop skills in the use of tools for hard materials product design.  Evaluation of their work is central to this process.

Key Stage 3

The department aims to provide a worthwhile technology experience where every student can reach their  full potential. Technology is a subject that has the capacity to provide a wide range of skills that are invaluable in our increasingly technological society and through the depth and breadth of its work it has an unrivalled capacity to bridge other curriculum subjects in addition to providing a real life context in which most skills can be taught.

You can read more about the curriculum here: Key Stage 3 Curriculum Design & Technology

Regardless of whether our students intend to pursue technology as a subject beyond either KS3 or GCSE level it is hoped that the communication, manufacturing, lateral thinking and planning skills that they have developed will have a significant and positive impact on all subsequent work. Demonstrating the value of a designers approach to solving real problems, is a fundamental aim.

Key Stage 4 (GCSE)

GCSE Design and Technology will prepare pupils to participate confidently and successfully in an increasingly technological world.  Students will gain awareness and learn from wider influences on Design and Technology including historical, social, cultural, environmental and economic factors. Students will have the opportunity to work creatively when designing and making.  They will apply technical and practical expertise to produce at least one final made prototype based on a design brief they develop in response to a contextual challenge set by AQA.

The AQA Design & Technology specification is split into two units giving pupils the opportunity to complete one major practical piece of coursework in Year 11 worth 50% of the full GCSE, and an examination at the end of the course worth 50% of the full GCSE. Pupils will develop research and investigation skills, building upon designing and drawing skills and improving modelling and practical skills primarily in the initial part of their GCSE course which they will implement in the second and particularly the third year of the GCSE.

The qualification will allow both breadth and depth of knowledge, without limiting students on the materials they can work with. It will enable them to make choices appropriate to their design. It contains mathematical and scientific content that students must know and use that relate closely to Design and Technology. This includes, for example, number, geometry and measure, materials, energy, moments and forces, and electricity and electromagnetism.

The course aims to ensure that all students have the knowledge and skills to design and make products or prototypes, using the best material, equipment and techniques, to solve real world and relevant problems across a range of contexts.

Students develop the ability to draw on and apply a range of skills and knowledge from other subject areas to inform their decisions in design and the application or development of technology. There are clear links between aspects of the specification content and other subject areas such as Computer Science, Business Studies, Art and Design and History. This is not an exhaustive list, and there are other opportunities within the specification for students to integrate and apply their wider learning and understanding from other subject areas studied during KS4, as well as those subjects that they are studying alongside A Level Product Design.  

This course will enable you to develop your knowledge and understanding in materials, manufacturing, electronics, CAD/CAM and graphics. It will be a suitable qualification should you wish to study Architecture, Engineering, Design or Graphics at University. During the course you will be expected to produce a range of designs, products and solutions to a range of problems, some given by your teachers and some decided upon by yourselves.

KS5 (A-Level Product Design)

You can read about our Product Design A-Level on our Sixth Form pages:  here