The Design &Technology Department at The Priory School aims to provide an exciting, broad and creative curriculum to all our students. Projects aim to highlight the importance of creative, innovative design, drawing skills, materials and processes, specialist computer-aided design, planning and evaluative skills in relation to the design industry. As well as teaching key and exciting elements of Food Preparation and Nutrition, including hygiene and safety, quality control and practical cooking skills. All projects are designed to cover a wide range of skills and materials. The department is well equipped with three full workshops, a food preparation room, a dedicated computing suite, a laser cutter and 3D printers.

Curriculum

Key Stage 3

Students study Design & Technology until the end of KS3 (Years 7 and 8 for 3 hours per fortnight; Year 9 for 4 hours per fortnight) on three different technology rotations (1 per term): Product Design, Graphic Design and Food & Nutrition.

Year 7

The creative Mirror Project: Students are encouraged to use creativity and inspiration to design a mirror whilst clearly communicating their ideas. They are introduced to working with new materials, health and safety and new tools to realise their designs.

Superhero Money Box: A fun and creative way of introducing students to Key Stage 3 Graphics. Students learn all about drawing and rendering skills, creative designing to a design brief, computer-aided design, nets, graphical design and evaluating. They also use basic model making and workshop skills to make a money box out of black card.

Year 7 Food: Students learn about hygiene and safety within a cooking environment. They learn basic cookery skills and the importance of eating a balanced diet. They also learn about heat transfer, sensory evaluation, food seasonality, food miles and how to read food packaging/labelling. Some of the dishes they may cook include flatbread pizza, goujons, hidden vegetable meatballs, risotto, scones and carrot cakes.

Year 8

LED Lamp: This Product Design-based project focuses on a variety of skills built on creativity and innovation. Students learn about design layout and ergonomics using a variety of materials including plastic, MDF and electronics to make a professional quality product. Students are also introduced to standardised components, circuits, soldering as well as laser cutting polymers.

Headphone Wrap: Students learn the meaning of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and how it is used in industry. They learn how to generate exciting new ideas, communicate effectively and apply new knowledge. In this project the importance of the user is emphasised during the entire design and make process. Students learn how to use computer software to design and laser cut their headphone wraps, vacuum form an insert for their product as well as design and make effective packaging with a graphical design.

Food: In Year 8 Food Preparation & Nutrition students expand their knowledge about healthy eating. We revisit the basics of food hygiene and bacteria. Students will learn more about the Eatwell guide, religious and moral food choices, and the function of ingredients in cake-based recipes. In addition to this students will be introduced to Food Science and how different sugars affect food. Students will learn about different cuisines from around the world to further understand food provenance. Some of the dishes they may cook include macaroni and cheese, paella, vegan stew and dumplings, Swiss roll, marble cake, fruit cheesecake and plain bread rolls.

Year 9

Jewellery Project: Students are encouraged to apply all previous skills, knowledge and creativity to successfully research, design and make an innovative jewellery pendant and stand with the user/customer/client in mind. Students learn all about the difference of moulds and formers. They have the opportunity to pewter cast their pendant at our brazing hearth. They also build on their CAD skills to develop functional and decorative jewellery stands for their pendant. They also learn how to finish and polish pewter and how to line bend laser cut polymers.

Graphics Branding: In this project students create their very own brand, designing and making CD covers, packaging, T-shirts and badges, with a professional software Illustrator. Students learn how to design and develop a logo by using various sources of visual stimuli. They are introduced to branding and how to launch a successful brand or idea. Students learn about the following areas: logos, target markets, iconic products, typography and colour wheels.

Food: In Year 9 students continue their learning about diet and health. They learn about the differences of organic, free range and intensive farming, gelatinisation and gluten formation. Students learn about food science through practical investigation and how different flours might affect pastry. Towards the end of the rotation students have an opportunity to experience a mini version of a non-exam assessed mini project for GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition: they choose from a range of different savoury and sweet dishes to cook demonstrating their culinary skills learnt in Years 7-9 in a more independent way. Some of the dishes they may cook include: pineapple upside down cake, Oreo brownies, marinated protein, lasagne, garlic plaited loaf and Thai curry.

Key Stage 4

Design & Technology

This course brings together elements of product design, resistant materials and graphics. This qualification is linear. Linear means that students will sit all their exams and submit all their non-exam assessments at the end of the course. Design & Technology is an exciting opportunity to study a broad range of topics such as sustainability, environmental issues, material properties, iconic designers, design movements and manufacturing.

Design & Technology is assessed in two ways. Firstly a two-hour written exam, which makes up 50% of a student’s final GCSE. The exam is made up of three sections:

Section A – Core technical principles (20%) A mixture of multiple choice and short answer questions assessing a breadth of technical knowledge and understanding.
Section B – Specialist technical principles (30%) Several short answer questions (2–5 marks) and one extended response to assess a more in-depth knowledge of technical principles.
Section C – Designing and making principles (50%) A mixture of short answer and extended response questions.

The second assessment is the Non-Examined Assessment (NEA). This is a substantial design and make project with the following assessment criteria:

·         Identifying and investigating design possibilities
·         Producing a design brief and specification
·         Generating design ideas
·         Developing design ideas
·         Realising design ideas
·         Analysing & evaluating

Students will need to produce a prototype and a portfolio of evidence to submit for this part of the NEA. Creativity and innovation is key with this!

Food Preparation and Nutrition

Students will be taught the science behind the food we prepare, cook and eat. The qualification will build on existing skills from KS3 and equip the students with a range of food preparation skills. Most practical lessons are 2 hours, which allows for more complex cookery.

Year 10 will focus on learning more about the nutritional and functional properties and how this impacts cooking methods, heat transfer, sensory qualities and nutritional value. Students will learn about how food is processed from ‘farm to fork’, technological developments in food and food choice. Some of the dishes we cook include jerk chicken and rice, chicken pie with shortcrust pastry, fresh pasta with tomato sauce, fish cakes, shepherd’s pie, Chelsea buns and panna cotta.

In Year 11 students will complete 2 non-exam assessed projects. NEA 1: 10 hour food science investigation (Autumn term); and NEA 2: 20 hour food research project which results in cooking 3-4 technical dishes and a final 3 hour 3 dish cooking exam (Spring term).

The course is split into 5 core topics:

Food, nutrition and health
Food science
Food safety
Food choice
Food provenance

Assessment for Food Preparation and Nutrition:

50% written exam
50% non-exam assessed projects (NEA 1: food investigation and NEA 2: food preparation tasks)

Key Stage 5

A Level Product Design

This AQA course is modern and relevant. Students study a very wide range of topics including contemporary technologies, sustainability, materials, material properties and processes, CAD/CAM, iconic designers and design movements as well as established practices, to name a few. Maths is a key element to our exam papers.

There are two exam papers for this course in Year 13:

Paper 1 Technical principles- 2 hours and 30 mins= 30% of the grade

Paper 2 Designing and making principles- 1 hour 30 mins= 20% of the grade

50% of the grade is the substantial design and make project (NEA). The qualification places greater emphasis on understanding and applying iterative design processes. Students will use their creativity and imagination to design and make prototypes that solve real and relevant problems focusing in detail on their chosen client’s needs, wants and values. This is called the Non Examined Assessment (NEA). Drawing skills and CAD work are key elements of this process.

Enrichment

Rotary Technology Tournament for KS3, KS4 and KS5 annual event and we try to visit one exhibition a year as part of KS5 as a trip.

Careers

Have you ever thought about a career in Design and Technology? There are a vast range of careers that Design and Technology can lead to such as Graphic Design, Product Design, Food Science, Construction and many more. This video explains the importance of Design and Technology as a subject in the world today.

Staff

Mrs Rachel Blacklaws – Head of Department
Mr Jason Allenby – 2nd in Department
Mrs Fiona Flather – Teacher of Design & Technology; Eco Schools Lead
Mr Jack Maydom – Teacher of Design & Technology and Physical Education; Assistant Head of Year 9
Mrs Emma Boniface – Teacher of Design & Technology; Head of Year 10
Ms Frances McDougall and Katarzyna Rodseth – Food Technicians
Mr Marc Carter – D&T Technician

Links

www.technologystudent.com – Great for KS3 & KS4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5NiTN0chj0&list=FL7gRzaNbUS8-r0-BcD2eqTg&index=8&feature=plpp_video – Sustainability Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUQffcSt25M – T-Shirt Logo Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x3jTSB2ez-g – T-Shirt Logo Video

http://cyop.potato.org.uk – Year 9 Food

http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk – Year 9 Food

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrVCkEoY_8M – How to Solder Wire