Design Technology

Design Technology Curriculum

The purpose of Design Technology is to give pupils the skills and confidence to solve problems in a practical way and to allow students to experience the intrinsic joy and satisfaction of making an artefact.

The DT curriculum is broad, balanced and ambitious; the key skills of research, designing, making and evaluation are taught using a wide range of materials, equipment and techniques. The knowledge and skills are delivered via a range of exciting projects which increase in complexity.

Specialist equipment and the use of CAD/CAM makes DT inclusive for all students - every student will have a finished artefact to take home at the end of a project.

There are four key skill areas in DT. Each project will focus on two of these areas (usually making and one other).

RESEARCH - To promote and develop curious and enquiring minds; pupils will want to know how things work and how they fit together.

DESIGNING - To develop creativity and problem solving skills through designing; pupils will be able to adapt to changing situations.

MAKING - To learn how to use a range of different machines, tools and materials confidently, safely and accurate to produce good quality artefacts.

EVALUATING - To develop pupil’s ability to evaluate items in order to make improvements (quality control/quality assurance).

The curriculum is logically sequenced starting with foundation knowledge and skills and workshop safety. The four key skill areas are revisited as students progress and become more challenging. This allows students to develop and embed their skills and knowledge.

Supporting Reading

Subject disciplinary literacy is taught explicitly in Design Technology with key words identified and introduced at the start of topics and revisited regularly to aid retention. Specific key words are highlighted in green to give focus in each lesson. Words mats, matching words, supporting images and examples are all used to introduce key vocabulary. Repetition of new and key vocabulary is used to support learning and to give students context to use these words.

In DT, the ‘incidental teaching’ of phonics using Abbey Phonics supports both decoding and encoding. Scripts are used to give a consistent approach across the school.

Widgit symbols are used in addition to text to support comprehension for students when reading.

In DT, we provide regular opportunities for students to read a range of different texts, especially when conducting research. We encourage students to read for learning, moving beyond the mechanics of reading to gathering meaning and information from the text. We also give recommendations of reading materials to encourage reading beyond the classroom.

Students have access to headsets & Chromebooks where they can use the dictation feature or use the Select to Speak tool, reading selected text to the user.

Year 7 Overview

Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Structures	Boats	Pop Up Card	Sublimation Mug	Colour Changing Light Stand	Problem Solving and 3D Printing

Year 8 & 9 Overview

Cycle 1

Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Top Trumps	Catapults	Electronic Torch	Coaster	Jewellery 1	Jewellery 2

Cycle 2

Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Wooden Box	Housing Development	Pull Along Toy	Desk Tidy	Electronic Flashing Light	Plastic Key Fob

Year 10 & 11 Overview

Cycle 1

Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Clock	Electronic Decision Maker	Book Ends	Wind Up Buggy	Steady Hand Game	Problem Solving

Cycle 2

Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Mechanical Toy 1	Mechanical Toy 2	Electronic Speaker	Animal Home	Electronic Dice	CAD/CAM

Assessment

Students are given formative assessment on a regular basis. They are taught and encouraged to self evaluate and identify their own improvements. Each project is assessed summatively on the key skill areas for that particular project.

This information is used to track students strengths and to see which skills they could improve.