The Design Technology department aims to develop essential and transferable skills for each and every pupil whilst providing them with exciting learning experiences. We want our pupils to develop resilience when faced with a problem, be tenacious when things go wrong and be creative when challenged.

Our aim in the department is to continually challenge pupils with complex tasks where pupils need to use higher level thinking skills. They will analyse, evaluate and create, these being essential skills in the Design Technology curriculum. In every lesson there are opportunities for pupils to reach greater depth and pupils are encouraged to design and make products that test their abilities and challenge their creativity.  Pupils will revisit learning so knowledge is embedded which allows pupils to attain mastery. 

What Design Technology lessons look like:

Pupils will experience a range of processes to make products where individual outcomes are encouraged  and design development is ongoing. Pupils carousel through different topics and spend 12 weeks at each.

KS2 pupils are introduced to the specialist classrooms and learn about basic foundation skills that they will build upon in KS3. Pupils focus is on the iterative design process. This will include materials and properties as well as designing and making for a purpose. 

At Key Stage 3, pupils will be encouraged to be creative, explore materials and technologies and take risks through a variety of practical tasks. Students combine these practical skills with an understanding of wider world issues.

In year 7 pupils learn more complex ways of assembling products, health and safety issues, manufacturing methods, cooking techniques, drawing skills and wider world issues such as sustainability. Whilst in year 8, pupils continue to apply and develop key skills whilst increasing their knowledge of aesthetic, technical, cultural, health, social, emotional, economic, industrial and environmental issues and changing technologies.

The 2 year course is designed to prepare students for the necessary skills needed for KS4 Design and Technology and the complexity of learning increases as the students progress through the keystage.  The department incorporates learning from all areas of the curriculum, such as mathematics and computing to enable pupils to transition into GCSE with ease.

Cooking

Pupils should be taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Instilling a love of cooking in pupils will also open a door to one of the great expressions of human creativity. Learning how to cook is a crucial life skill that enables pupils to feed themselves and others affordably and well, now and in later life.” (National curriculum in England: design and technology programmes of study)

Pupils from year 5 to year 8 get to experience our wonderful facilities at VGMS, fully immersing them in a culinary environment. The course aims to give the students the theoretical and practical skills, to not only succeed in school based food environment but also their wider life. At Valley Gardens we show the students a range of cookery skills, knowledge of nutrition as well as understanding of food science, food safety, food choice and food provenance. The aim of the program is to introduce the students to the cookery room in year 5 and build their skills and confidence, leaving year 8 with the confidence to cook nutritious, healthy food with independence.  Here at Valley Gardens we truly believe that learning about cooking and nutrition is one of the most important life skills a person can learn, and that your child gets a great start on this journey at our school.

Supporting Children

Design and Technology is a popular and valuable subject for pupils with special educational needs. Knowledge and understanding is drawn from across the curriculum and helps to develop and enable numeracy, literacy and communication skills that can be applied in practical ways. This consolidates skills from other lessons and reinforces learning with positive outcomes. 

Pupils with SEN often find designing activities problematic. Therefore thought is required to ensure pupils can access and produce successful initial design work. For example, it’s vital to offer a variety of methods of recording ideas quickly. In fact, the department is conscious of avoiding a rigid approach when it comes to recording and communicating design ideas and developments, for example:  Ideas could be done through model making instead of drawings. Activities focused on the physical making of designs should be supported ‘one to one’. Yet it is also important to encourage pupils to work as independently as possible. For example, by using keywords sheets, flow charts and visual instruction sheets which explain a process in a step-by-step manner.

Differentiation

This Department believes in planned intervention in the classroom to maximise pupil potential based on individual needs. Differentiation will not just happen but it has to be part of a planned process.

Tracking attainment and progress:

Pupils are monitored throughout the projects and tracked  so that any pupils falling behind are identified and given help and support to ensure they reach their potential. 

Pupil achievement will be recognised not only from the knowledge gained in lessons but as how successfully pupils are developed as problem solvers, competent users of technology and their development of  skills used in everyday adult life. 

The following skills are assessed throughout KS3: Research, Design, Make, Evaluate, Technical Knowledge, Cooking and Nutrition.

 

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CURRICULUM MAPS

What career…?

Food and Drink industries, Food Science and Technology , Cooking and Food Preparation , Occupational Therapy , Home Economist/Consumer Scientist , Critic/ Writer, Food Designer / Advisor, Food for Industry

Fashion Designer , Textile and Surface Design , Clothing Industry , Footwear Designer, Textile Designer, Buyer, Window Design, Technical Adviser, Fashion Writer, Exhibition Design , Graphic Designer , Interior Design , Sign Making , Packaging Design, Marketing , Multimedia and Interactive Media , Film Industry, Technical Writing , Publishing , Theatre Design

Computer Game Designer, Graphic Crafts , Illustrator, Stage Designer, Website Design, Industrial Designer, Model Maker, Product Designer, Manufacturing , Architecture , Civil Engineering , Craftsman, Engineering , Design Engineering , Medical Engineering, Electronic Engineering , Automotive Design , Landscape Architecture , Practical Work , Construction , Carpentry and Joinery , Land-Based Engineering , Shipbuilding , Rural Crafts , Cabinetmaking, Furniture Design , Teaching , Trading Standards , Environment Technology, Materials Science

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Possible School Clubs and Events the Design and Technology Department offers:

Primary F1 in School competition

Stem Week Events

Greenpower Car

MasterChef competitions

Local visits

AT HOME:

Useful websites:

http://technologystudent.com

http://DTonline.org

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zfr9wmn

Places to visit to help your child in Design  and Technology outside of school:

Cragside ( Rothbury) – there are lots of things to see and do at Cragside House. Discover the first home to be lit by hydroelecticity – the place where modern living began. Check out the amazing gadgets and modern conveniences.

Discovery museum (Newcastle) – Museum of Science and Industry, the first science museum outside of London. It was housed in the temporary pavilion that was built for the 1929 North East Coast Exhibition. The exhibits take you through the history of Newcastle focusing on the area’s maritime, scientific and technological importance to Britain and the rest of the world.

The National Glass Centre (Sunderland) – Visit the current exhibitions and watch how glass was first made and watch demonstrations.

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