Design & Technology

Our Mission

Design and Technology prepares students to participate in tomorrow’s rapidly changing technologies by learning to think creatively. It is all about solving real context based practical problems using a wide range of materials and components including food, textiles, woods, metals, plastics, smart materials, electronics and graphic media. We aim to equip students with relevant knowledge and safe working skills that will serve them well and enable them to pursue careers in diverse areas such as manufacturing, the creative product design and graphics industries, engineering and hospitality & catering. Whilst much of what we teach is academic, a central feature of student work is practical in nature and this is what motivates our students and makes Design & Technology challenging, relevant and fun.

The Technology team works hard to encourage, motivate and challenge students to achieve their best in designing and making in a variety of material areas. We take pride in the fact that our GCSE results are officially recognised as being consistently and significantly above the national average.

Our student survey tells us that the vast majority of students enjoy their learning since we always aim to be responsive to their needs.

Key Stage 3 students in Years 7, 8 and 9 have the opportunity to work in a variety of specialist areas involving Food, Textiles, Electronics, Graphics, CAD/CAM and Resistant Materials.

In Years 10 and 11 students can opt for the following Technology GCSE subjects:

GCSE Food Preparation & Nutrition
GCSE Design & Technology – Product Design
Engineering (Level 1 / 2)

Homework

Homework; independent learning opportunities for technology students.

Homework is set regularly for all our pupils. It is always linked to tasks being completed in lessons. Each week the lesson work is posted in the class Google Classroom, often with any associated resources. This allows pupils to return to the work and refine it independently or make use of the resources to help them complete homework. A brief description of homework tasks are also posted on Class Charts as a reminder of the deadline.

All of the Technology teachers are happy to give additional guidance on any task and we can usually be found in our classrooms most days if a pupil requires further help to complete a piece of work. We operate an open door policy so that pupils can pop in any break or lunch time should they need to access more support from their specialist teachers.

KS3 pupils can expect homework on average every two weeks. They should be spending around 45 minutes on a task in year 7, and up to an hour and a half once they reach year 9.

GCSE pupils will be expected to complete work outside of lessons every week. This will range from about an hour and a half in year 10 but could be upwards of two hours a week as they are working through their NEA (Non Exam Assessment) in year 11. All Year 11 classes will have after school club days to facilitate the completion of the NEA as often specialist equipment or software is needed that won’t be accessible at home.