“[the design process] is about designing and prototyping and making. When you separate those, I think the final result suffers.” – Jonathan Ive

This area is critical to our way of life although many overlook it. Consider everyday items, how they’ve been designed, prototyped and then manufactured for us at affordable prices. Next, consider our infrastructure – roads, rail networks, communications (broadband, mobile phone networks, radio). All of these rely on this subject as basis from which to work.

D&T’s aim is to encourage curiosity in objects and technology, to foster a desire to think critically about an object’s performance and ways in which it could be developed and improved.

This is one of the areas in school which incorporates many subjects and puts them to use in a fun manner.

I want to put YOU in the driving seat of your learning, where YOU can learn and choose the right tools for the job.

D&T is staffed by one teacher, dedicated to deliver a wide experience to students, covering design and basic workshop skills. Students have one lesson per fortnight and follow a programme of study designed to instil a range of processes such as analysing a design brief, casting pewter metal to constructing a simple electronic circuit.

We encourage students to think about what influences their designs, who the end user might be and their needs and requirements.

 

Years 7-9 (KS3) Overview


At KS3 students become familiar with basic tools and materials, learning processes to create a final artefact. The skills they learn form the basis to make good progress at KS4 and are transferable into the industrial setting.

 

Year 7 Year 8 & 9
DT – Jewellery Project. DT – 3D CAD
Term 1-3 Students experience a range of materials and processes in this project. They gain an understanding of a design brief before researching some ideas, moving on to draw their chosen idea in 2D CAD. Their designs are laser cut in acylic. Moving into the workshop they experience processing wood using saws and files before sandwiching their acrylic piece in a mould and casting pewter to form an attractive surround. The pewter piece is then filed to finish. Students build on their 2D work last year and develop 3D CAD skills designed to place them on a good footing to start their Engineering course if they opt for it. 3D work is introduced using planes and sketches, building up complexity from simple rectangular shapes and extrusion through to more complex pieces that involve multiple planes and sketches combined to create a Minion character then later on a small Marvin the Martian character. Students then experience converting their designs into a format for 3D printing and see them 3D printed.
February Half Term
DT – Desk Tidy DT – Steady Hand Game
Term 4-6 Students build on their previous hand skills; marking out and cutting. They are introduced to marking out holes and using a pillar drill safely and how PVA glue works. They make a functional desk tidy which is able to hold an array of stationery objects of their choosing and painted to finish. The main purpose of this unit is to introduce some basic electronics and circuits to students. They also build on their previous hand-skills with marking out and cutting using coping saws. Electronic components are shown as symbols in a circuit. Students get a basic understanding of how a circuit works, which component each symbol represents and how they are fixed together. Students learn soldering skills to join components together and learn that metals can be bent to form a shape.

 

Click Here to view KS3 homework examples

 

Years 10-11 (KS4) Overview


Students study a Cambridge Nationals L1/2 course at KS4, learning about the design process in more detail and creating a prototype piece set by the exam board. There is an examination at the end of the course.

 

Year 10 Year 11
Cambridge Nationals Level 1/2 Engineering Cambridge Nationals Level 1/2 Engineering
Term 1-3 Students study OCR Cambridge Nationals L1/2 Engineering Design (J822). The course has been designed to cover some examined elements (R038) and to cover the practical piece set by the exam board (R040) in the first year. Within the first half of the year the main focus is exam material and theory about evaluating designs and resources. Students are introduced to their NEA after October half term, some time given over to this, gradually increasing towards February half term. Students start with their wooden base, learning some hand-skills, before moving on to CAD to create a custom 3D decoration for the top. If time allows the shade support will be drawn and laser cut and further processing carried out to finish it. This term will see students busy with R038, their exam learning, along with their design NEA (R039). In a similar manner to Yr10 students will be taught elements of the design work before commencing work. The entire R039 NEA will be completed by February half term.
February Half Term
Cambridge Nationals Level 1/2 Engineering Cambridge Nationals Level 1/2 Engineering
Term 4-6 The aim this half of the year is completion of R040 NEA. Students will experience sheet metal folding to form the lamp shade and some simple electronics to fasten the LED lamps inside the shade and complete the wiring. Their coursework will also be completed and submitted to the exam board towards the end of the summer term. Further work on R038, their exam, will also feature this term. This half of the year will see Yr11 students revising for the exam from Feb half term onwards. Focus will be on recapping topics covered in Yr10, probing gaps in knowledge using low-stakes quizzes then designing lessons to fill these gaps. Students are invited to take an active part in their own revision by being asked for their own knowledge gaps and topics to revise for as a class.