Year 9
In Year 9 all students spend two periods per week in the Design Centre and workshops: they can spend extra time in the evenings as well if they require. Students follow a foundation course for the GCSE option available in Design & Technology. This includes skills in design, computer graphics, graphic presentation, and making with wood, metal & plastics.
Students will design several projects starting with their own personal logo design that they transfer onto other products and their design folder. The first project is mood lamp design. Students follow the design process, researching, thinking, and learn methods of generating feasible and imaginative ideas. They learn design skills, drawing and presentation skills and then will build models and make their final versions. Their final products are tested and evaluated.
Year 10
1 GCSE Design and Technology: Fashion Products
Candidates are expected to design and make a range of innovative fashion products and are encouraged to develop a range of design, presentation and ‘model’-making skills during the course.
Candidates may use any materials during the designing and making process however the emphasis of the course is on developing the candidate’s designing and making capabilities through the use of modern media, materials and ICT.
Candidates will solve problems and needs through design. They will research, analyse and suggest a range of ideas leading to the development of a solution, then model, make and test prototypes of their product. The course builds on the foundations of the Year 9 course and the Year 9 IC course.
Candidates will undertake a wide variety of fashion projects selected to widen their awareness, design and making skills. Examples are:
- Body container, designing a storage container that has to attach to your body in some way.
- Casting pewter into moulds and designs cut out in wood.
- Bending laminated Acrylic with fabrics sandwiched in layers to create bracelets etc.
- Enamelled body adornment.
- Handbag design using wood frames, metal joining methods and plastic/fabric.
- Etching body jewellery, earrings, pendants, dog tags into copper, using the computer aided vinyl cutter for templates.
The course is based in the design/computer room and the workshops. The course is mainly a design course and has a series of modules: Design Influences, Developing and Applying Design Skills, Design and Making Innovation Challenge, Making, Testing and Marketing products.
Starting in the last term of year 10 a final project is undertaken as the major assessment component of the exam. Candidates can choose a project of their choice. They will design and make a range of fashion items under one theme using the main materials.
2 GCSE Design and Technology: Resistant Materials Technology
Candidates are expected to design and make a range of different products. They are encouraged to develop designing skills, graphic and presentation skills and manufacturing and making skills. Any materials can be used in designing and making: the syllabus stresses constructions in wood, metal and plastics.
Students will solve problems and needs through design. They will investigate, analyse, suggest a range of ideas and solutions, model, make and test/evaluate prototypes. The course builds on the foundations laid in Year 9. Candidates undertake a variety of design and manufacture projects selected to widen their technological awareness, design skills and making skills (in the first two terms of the year 10). Examples from previous years are: Mechanical toy making, the design & making of a storage unit for MP3 players , ipods or graphic equipment: the design of tie racks, focusing on small batch production of more than one product, and working as a class to produce bulk numbers, packaged, quality controlled and ready for marketing: the design of modern loudspeaker cases, the design of teenager chairs, model rocket cars and boats!
The course is mainly practical, but pupils will follow a series of modules in graphic presentation, design skills, technological awareness and manufacturing methods. Starting in the last term of Year 10 a “final project” is undertaken as the major assessment component of the exam. Candidates can choose a project of their choice: they design, make and test it throughout one year. Examples include the design of a child’s crutch which ended up looking like a flamingo on one leg, fine multi material furniture, children’s chairs and play things, projects based on storage, environmentally friendly rubbish bins, mechanical automata toys, guitar stands, the list is as long as the candidates’ ambitions.
There are two tiers of entry, two final exam papers (1¼ hours each) 40% and the coursework 60%.
Year 12/13
AS and A-level Design and Technology: Product Design (Edexcell)
Candidates taking Design and Technology face many exciting challenges in this course. The course directly follows on from GCSE and enables students to design and make several projects of their own choice and follow other class-based projects, teaching skills in design, graphic presentation, computer-aided design and materials technology.
Content:
The course involves a greater emphasis on the process of designing and designers, computer-aided design and manufacture, batch and volume production of products and use of modern materials in design. There are four units of work throughout the two years:
(Units 1-2 are part of the AS-level)
- Design and make assignment No. 1 - a Year 12 project, 50 hours' work. Students design and make a small batch-produced product of their choice (coursework assessment - 30% of A-level)
- Materials for design and study of the design method and related issues (1½ hour exam at end - 20% of A-level)
(Units 3-4 are part of the A-level - A2)
- Materials II - study into modern materials and techniques for manufacture
(1½ hour exam at end - 20% of A-level)
- Design and make assignment No. 2 - a Year 13 project, students design and make a second project of their choice
(coursework assessment - 30% of A-level)
Projects:
Examples of design and make assignments are smaller than previous years in their time allocation and therefore their physical size, but have more emphasis on clever inventiveness, computer-aided design and manufacture, accuracy and quality for batch and volume production. We will be looking at small batch-produced items using computer technology to design products that use the principle of “slots” mainly using cardboard and birch faced plywood
Entry:
To do the full A-level it is recommended by the exam board and ourselves that students have followed a GCSE course in Design and Technology or a similar course, giving them the experience of three to five years in designing and making. A student with no GCSE background but with some experience in designing and making may find the AS manageable (with much extra work at prep and after lessons in the workshops), as over 80% of the A-level and AS-level involves writing or writing with drawings.
A qualification in design prepares students well for many careers that are Design and Technology based, and leads to university opportunities, careers and courses in product design, interior design, graphic and mechanical design, engineering and architecture, materials technology, production manufacturing, quality control, etc. Design and Technology supplements Mathematics, Physics and Art based subjects very well.