Curriculum Overview – Year 7
In Year 7, students are introduced to the Design & Technology curriculum through fun and engaging lessons, whilst developing subject specific skills. Essential life and educational skills of team working, resilience and independence are experienced through project work.
The subject is in rotation with Food, Preparation and Nutrition and students spend half of the year in each of the two subject areas. Examples of products that are made in Year 7 include a keyring, a bridge and a decorative money box.
Curriculum Overview – Year 8
In Year 8, we focus on the Design and Technology curriculum and scaffold key skills, embedding knowledge for future learning. Students will have the opportunity to manufacture products in the Design and Technology workshop, developing in complexity as the terms progress and building on skills learnt in Year 7.
The subject is in rotation with Food Preparation and Nutrition and students spend half of the year in each of the two subject areas.
Examples of products that are made in Year 8 include a garden feeder / nesting box for birds and an automata mechanical toy. Students can choose to pick the subject at ‘options’ time and follow it through into Year 11 or they can simply enjoy their time in the subject and use it as a stepping stone to build their skills for the future in a possible career or as a homeowner.
Curriculum Overview – Year 9
In Year 9, students start to follow the Eduqas Design & Technology GCSE course. Students will have three one hour lessons a week which will include a theory based lesson to prepare students for the terminal exam and two lessons to practise and develop skills in manufacturing a range of GCSE standard products in the Design and Technology workshop.
Throughout Year 9 we focus on delivering the core knowledge and understanding and also the ‘in depth knowledge & understanding’ of both ‘Natural & Manufactured Timber’ and ‘Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metals’.
We offer students the experience of working with a range of tools, equipment and machinery when manufacturing products in different materials that we have available in the workshop. The skills experienced can then be built upon for more complex products in Year 10 and support students in their independence and resilience when completing the non-examined assessment in Year 11 in line with exam board guidance.
Examples of products that are made in Year 9 include a hanging basket bracket, a storage unit to hang on a wall, a small storage box and a bird table.
Curriculum Overview – Year 10
In Year 10, students continue to follow the Eduqas Design and Technology GCSE course. Students will still have three one-hour lessons a week that will include a theory based lesson to prepare students for the terminal exam and two lessons to practise and develop skills in manufacturing a range of GCSE standard products in the workshop.
Building on skills and knowledge from learning in Year 9, more complex products are manufactured in terms of the difficulty of manufacturing methods and expectation in terms of outcome are raised. Students should be producing work independently to GCSE standard by the end of the year which will support students when completing the non-examined assessment in Year 11 in line with exam board guidance.
Examples of products that are made in Year 10 include a table constructed from traditional joining methods, a wine bottle rack and a practise non-examined assessment product from a teacher-given brief.
Curriculum Overview – Year 11
In Year 11, students continue to follow the Eduqas Design and Technology GCSE course. However the breakdown of lessons is more independently focused. The learning is centred around completing the non-examined assessment. All theory and knowledge required for the non-examined assessment will have been delivered in previous years and students will be expected to work on their investigations independently with minimal support – as set out in the specification.
For the non-examined assessment, students will be expected to spend approximately 35 hours on a ‘design & make’ style project from a choice of three briefs released by the exam board in the summer term. Students will produce a detailed A3 design portfolio and manufacture a 3D product primarily out of either ‘Natural & Manufactured Timber’ or ‘Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metals’.
This assignment is teacher assessed and moderated externally by the exam board.
When both non-examined assessments are complete just before the Easter term, students then focus on revision for the terminal exam in the summer series.
Curriculum Leader
Mrs J Barnett – jbarnett@sbch.org.uk
Teacher of Technology
Mrs D Green – dgreen@sbch.org.uk
Miss D Skinner – dskinner@sbch.org.uk