Design & Technology
In the Design and Technology Department we realise the opportunities and intellectual challenge the study of DT offers.
Design and Technology can:
- Develop creativity and innovation
- Promote understanding of the technological development of society and sensitivity for its continuation in a responsible and sustainable way
- Provide a framework for reasoning when making choices as consumers of the 21st Century
- Encourage individuality, originality and creative enterprise, as well as many of the skills valued by employers such as team work, planning and project management
We are committed to providing enjoyable, stimulating and challenging activities for all year groups in an environment in which everyone can feel valued and encouraged. There is a strong ethos of collaborative learning within the subject. We love our subject and know it can be exciting and engrossing.
Lessons will be varied and include a range of styles and activities including learning through looking, learning through writing, group tasks, individual work and practical activities. Regular and diagnostic assessment will give students the opportunity to assess their own progress and identify how they can improve their Design and Technology skills and understanding.
Curriculum Information
Key Stage 3
In years 7, 8 and 9, students study one double period (80 minutes) a week of DT focussing one term each on the 3 main areas of:
- Product Design
- Textiles
- Food
Pupils learn to develop skills and creativity through a range of design and make assignments, learning through an iterative design process, the principles which affect the products we use and how they can influence their social and environmental impacts.
Key Stage 4
Students have the option of studying Product Design or Textile Products specialisms for GCSE.
This 2 year programme of study aims to develop their skills in a focussed materials area culminating in a major project conducted in Year 11, in which students respond to an exam board set contextual challenge.
This major project comprises 50% of the overall GCSE, with the remaining 50% completed as a written examination. See photo gallery for examples of work.
Engaging with DT outside the classroom 
As a department we value opportunities to increase their cultural capital and insight into how Design & Technology impacts on the world around us and future career opportunities. We regularly take the students on trips and host workshops delivered by practising designers and industry.
The department has also successfully entered and won various prestigious design competitions and utilises links with industry and a partnership with science to promote innovation through engineering and STEM.
Design & Technology supports KS3 students in popular extracurricular clubs that take place during lunch break.
Design Ventura Challenge
Design Ventura Workshop
Design Ventura Workshop
At the Design Museum
Discovering New Technologies
Pupils in Design and Technology have been discovering how new technologies such as 3D printing and computer programming are impacting on the world. From the products we use every day to the vast possibilities for future medical, scientific and manufacturing industries.
Coding in Year 8
Year 8 pupils designed and made lamps using computer aided design to replicate iconic motifs silhouetted against colour diffused light. As a result of a collaboration between the Design and Technology and ICT departments they used the BBC micro:bit and neopixel display to code and show their own custom colour changing display. Applying their skills in programming to make a functional, colour changing mood lamp was an inspired way to apply computer science to product design.
3D Printing in Year 9
Year 9 were introduced to the idea that 3D printing may indeed transform our lives forever! From medical advances which include 3D printing from human tissue to The European Space Agency’s endeavours to build a lunar space station from bricks made from moon dust. Our students have really enjoyed exploring how 3D printing is set to re-shape the world.
