Design & Technology
Curriculum Beliefs
Design and Technology has an important role to play in the development of our students. In addition to the increasing number following career pathways in design, our pupils also learn important life skills. These include practical skills with which to home build, the ability to appreciate good design in order to become effective product consumers and the analytical skills with which to make important life decisions.
Performance Indicators
In my previous school, which was a large mixed comprehensive school in Wiltshire, Ofsted had cited Design and Technology as outstanding, which had been a testament to the examination results that students achieved, their enthusiasm for the subject and the quality of a dedicated group of Design and Technology teachers.
The DT faculty team were 14 strong and at our peak we recruited over 90% of Yr9 students onto DT GCSE courses through the options process. This amounted to 32 GCSE groups across KS4 and 7 A level groups in the sixth form!
Students and staff were very proud to have been awarded the Design Mark. This prestigious curriculum award is accredited by the Design Skills Alliance, which includes the Design Council and the DfE and has only been awarded to a limited number of secondary schools. The importance to students was that it helped to give them the very best design education which, for many, lead to university degrees and careers in design.
Curriculum Enrichment
Nationally, all our students should have the opportunity to solve real problems wherever possible by interacting with designers and other industrialists and this should be at the heart of a vibrant and enriched Design and Technology curriculum.
The feature of our KS3 curriculum was our annual support of the National Design Week. 'Sock monkeys' were made and a monkey was hidden in locations around the school with a prize for the finder, whilst the 'cupcake challenge' supported our whole school charity. Pupils voted for their 'favourite iconic product' which has included famous products such as the Brabantia bin, MINI car, iPod, red telephone box, Levi jeans, lava lamp and the Dyson cleaner.
The feature of our GCSE curriculum was the involvement of our students in the development of our local market town. Students worked with outside manufacturers to install signage and seating along Route 4 of the Sustran’s National Cycle Route and to design models for the canal re-construction programme. Students also worked with an architect and the Mayor on the development of a new shopping site.
The feature of our 'A' Level curriculum was the involvement of our students in the design of a local community that needed to be partly re-developed following a cash injection by Sainsbury’s. We organised a visit to Paris, where students were able to pick up and develop ideas from La Defence before returning to England and presenting community and urban solutions to the town council in the Corn Exchange.
Facilities and Resources
The environment we created was key to an ethos that underpinned the high regard students and other stakeholders had for Design and Technology. I cannot over state how important the development of a well designed working environment was to the well-being of students and staff who came to school each day to learn and teach. Even the music we had playing in our foyers was designed to create a calm ambiance!
Our innovative building featured a public atrium and hard materials workshops on the first floor with clean design areas located on mezzanines that went into the roof space. In total, the building comprised 5 multimedia workshops, 3 food rooms, a textiles room, a large machine preparation room, a computer room and a faculty room. Our comprehensive equipment stock included a CAD laser cutting machine.
Display was at the core of the building’s presentation and served as a focal point to start projects. Banners of famous designers hung throughout the atrium, clear acrylic and chrome styled cabinets displayed 3-D practical work and a display of commercial products helped to cultivate creativity. In addition, there was an LED electronic messaging system and an LCD TV to play design related YouTube clips. The part of our display about which we were most proud was our acrylic Roll of Honour board with laser cut lettering that celebrated the achievement of those students who had chosen to study design at a vocational or university level.
