Design

Head of Department - Mr Bradley

Welcome to the Design and Technology Department

At Holy Family the design technology department offer a creative curriculum which has been developed to cover a wide variety of skills which encourage the pupils to experiment with their ideas through sketching and modelling. We build on prior knowledge and experience from the pupil’s primary schools and assess their progress at regular termly intervals.

The department includes Food Technology as well as Resistant Materials and the pupils engage in each subject for half of the year across key stage 3.

The technology department staff are Mr Bradley (resistant materials) and Miss Bocking (food technology). They have over 50 years teaching experience between them and are constantly learning new skills and pass these onto their pupils.

Key stage 3 is taught over 3 years, year 7 to year 9. At the end of year 9 pupils opt for their exam courses. They are offered BTEC Art and design which is a broad and interesting course which develops many skills including research into products, materials and design movements as well as architecture, graphic products and theatre set design. To help the pupils with this they are offered the opportunity to visit London for three days where they go to the Globe, The National Theatre and Harry Potter Studios to explore the role of the set designer. They also use the trip to gather first hand observational research for their architecture assignment in year 10.

Pupils enjoy the subject and this is evident through pupil voice and option numbers in year 10. The workshop is open at lunch times for year 10 and 11 and pupils use this time to enhance their work.

Enrichment activities include pupils helping out with the school play. Pupils design and build the set and some students then form a team to act as back stage crew who manage set changes, lighting and prop management. This also helps pupils fulfil the volunteering aspect of their Duke of Edinburgh award.

What do they learn?

The KS3 Design and Technology curriculum develops the skills and knowledge pupils’ have learnt at primary school. As students' progress through KS3, they will be monitored and assessed to ensure that they make expected progress towards their target grades. The core of the curriculum is creativity and imagination. The pupils are given the opportunity to develop creatively with a culture of ‘thinking outside the box’. Students will learn to design and make products that they can use themselves and they will design and make products for other clients according to their needs. To do this effectively, they will acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on additional disciplines such as mathematics, computing, science and art.

Cultural awareness is delivered through different aspects of work such as making a modern tribal mask from recycled materials from the home using the Mexican festival of The Day of The Dead as a starting point

At KS4 students will opt for BTEC Art and Design. This is a two-year course and pupils complete 4 units of work which cover different areas of art and design including graphic products, theatre set design, architecture and product design. Pupils learn skills in researching designers and the ways in which they work, experimenting with different materials and presenting and evaluating their work and recording the development of their ideas

Key Stage 3

Design Key Stage 3 Curriculum Map

Year 7	Key fob task Mask design Photo frame project Graphic Design Designers and Their Products Levers and Mechanisms
Year 8	Headphone stand Mobile Phone Stand Pop up Card Memphis inspired Clock Graphic Design Electronics

Key Stage 4

Design Key Stage 4 Curriculum Map

Year

Plastics project. Pupils are required to work to a given brief. A company has asked them to design and make a toothbrush holder for an average family. They have to produce a moodboard and research the theme. Five different design ideas are to be sketched and annotated. A card model needs to be made to aid testing and act as a template for the strip heater.

Casting in Pewter. Theory and practical work. Pupils are to cast a letter in pewter into MDF. Theory page to be copied from text book into pupil exercise book.

Bird box project. Pupils are to design and make a bird box using a basic design. Their work will include a booklet showing design ideas and working drawings

Bookends focus practical task– dovetail joints.

MP3 Player. This project will include vac forming and graphics cut on the CNC machine. The pupils will also engage in electronics.

Trinket box. This is to be made from Ash and pupils will learn its properties. Designs for the lid will have to be produced. Pupils do theoretical work in exercise books to record the practical.

Year

10 - 11

Pupils complete coursework units for BTEC Art and Design. They develop a variety of designing, drawing and making skills. The prep work for their exam starts in February and is taken from a list of different briefs.

Enrichment

Pupils studying resistant materials enter a range of competitions and evens related to this area of design. Recently they won the Rotary Club Technology Challenge where they had to practically problem solve against teams from many other local secondary schools.

Pupils engage in small projects after school to help them with the skills component of the Duke of Edinburgh award.

Pupils were involved in making products for a Business Studied project where pupils were given a high street shop for the day. This was a great success and the pupils really enjoyed this experience.

Pupils from all year groups help with costume design and making for the school play. Year 10 visited the Christmas markets in Manchester to look at a variety of street food vendors for their course.