Design Technology, Food Preparation & Nutrition and Textiles

All students complete 18 week long design projects that cover the four assessment criteria, allowing them opportunities to investigate (A), design (B), make (C) and test (D) their creations. They will rotate around the design specialisms of Craft, Textiles, Food and Systems throughout the Key Stage.

All projects have a statement of inquiry to allow students to link their work beyond the classroom and recognise the global impact of their design decisions. Approaches to Learning are embedded in the projects with creative, organisational and problem solving skills modelled and practised.

The knowledge and skills are matched to the national curriculum, with key topics repeated through multiple projects so that students can see the knowledge in different contexts.

While designing specific products, students will use their statements of inquiry to see how design, technology and food production fit into the wider world. They develop a range of creative thinking and problem solving skills through their extended projects which can then be used across a range of subjects. Students present their investigation, design, make and testing work in a project portfolio giving them the opportunity to select, reflect upon and edit the learning they have experienced.

Students will have one theory lesson and two project based lessons each week.

Our students will spend Year 10 developing both their declarative knowledge and practising their procedural knowledge through the design process. Initial activities are scaffolded and modelled to the students with the aim of increased independence and application as the year progresses. Projects become increasingly complicated with the students having to consider an increasing number of factors within their own designs. From these experiences the students should gain an understanding of the desired complexity and feasibility of their own projects.

The projects are supplemented with the relevant theoretical knowledge and skills so they can immediately apply and relate the course content to real life situations. Regular exam and exam style questions will allow students to be prepared for their end point assessment.

Year 11 is largely dedicated to the NEA coursework, which determines 50% of the final grade. This will demonstrate their independence as young designers. Course content is revisited throughout the NEA so that classroom learning aligns with the current NEA activity.

Our students should demonstrate the ability to manage their own design project and clearly explain their design process. This should be evident in their design portfolios, but also through design conversations in the studio.

Through independent practice, students should be confident in explaining and justifying their design decisions using technical language and evidence from their own research.

In the end of GCSE exam, our students will be confident to write about design, its impact on the world and evaluate the decisions of other designers.

Throughout year 10 the focus is on developing the technical knowledge required to move beyond being enthusiastic home cooks. Alongside the theory our students will have regular cooking, food preparation and experiment experiences to allow practise of skills and to fully embed the learned theory.

A cycle of direct instruction of knowledge, modelled activities (both written and practical) followed by independent practise ensures a spiral curriculum where content is built upon and extended.

Year 11 is focussed largely on the two exam board set NEA tasks. NEA 1 is an experiment in ingredient functions and NEA 2 is the development and preparation of a menu to suit a specific need. Both require investigation, experimentation and practical application.

Our students should be confident in explaining decisions relating to food and nutrition by considering a wide range of factors including dietary needs, sustainability and the functions of availability. This will be evident in their written NEA report that show their own food experiments and outcomes.

They should be able to describe food in both sensory and scientific terms, and make relationships between the two.

In the end of GCSE exam, our students will be confident in using technical language to describe how ingredients behave under different storage, preparation and cooking conditions. They should also be able to evaluate food decisions made by professionals.

Students spend 3 lessons a week developing and expressing their creative skills in the realm of textiles design. Early project work is guided and focussed on learning techniques, experimenting with materials and how to present work in the GCSE sketchbook.

As coursework projects progress, students will continue to have new techniques directly taught, modelled and practised. However students are expected to become increasingly independent and creative with the application of these core techniques.

Assessment is ongoing through the coursework projects where students compile sketchbooks of their work covering the four assessment objectives: artist analysis, experimentation, development of ideas and their final piece.

Students should be confident in explaining their responses to the studied artists and designers, their own creative processes and the techniques demonstrated in their final piece.