Design and Technology

Welcome to the Design and Technology Faculty curriculum area, which includes the subjects DT, Food, Graphics and Textiles.

Design and Technology at The de Ferrers Academy aims to inspire and motivate students through a demanding, stimulating, and innovative curriculum. The knowledge and skills gained through the experiences within a wide variety of materials including Food embeds the concept that design is all around us and that design is for all. Within the faculty, through careful mapping, students build core, transferable knowledge, and skills which will ultimately prepare them for employment in the 21st century.

The curriculum we offer at the academy reflects the requirements of the National Curriculum: Design and Technology is ‘an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject’. Students use their imagination and creativity to design and make products that ‘solve real and relevant problems’ through a variety of contexts. Students consider the needs of others taking into account values, culture, and the well-being of the nation. Students study a broad range of subject knowledge and through this will learn to apply knowledge from other areas such as ‘mathematics, science, engineering, and computing’. Design and Technology here at the academy encourages students to take risks, become resourceful, innovative, and enterprising members of society. The curriculum, designed by the Design & Technology Faculty, ensures that all learners, particularly the most disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) follow a curriculum that gives students the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Within the faculty, students develop a wealth of transferable skills through an iterative approach to learning.

Curriculum Intent

The progressive curriculum builds on the experiences of students at Key Stages 1 and 2.

Students acquire an initial foundation of knowledge in Year 7, covering past designers, the role and responsibilities of a designer, the importance of teamwork and visual communication skills. Students embed these skills by working in multi-material areas.  Year 8 and year 9 embed and extend knowledge and skills through a wide variety of contexts ensuring students have experiences that will enable them to retrieve and extend prior knowledge.

Aims and Objectives

1. To include the use of a broad range of knowledge and skills  
2. To encourage understanding
3. To prompt engagement in a wide variety of activities
4. To encourage students to design and make products that solve real and appropriate problems within a variety of contexts
5. To evaluate past and present Design and Technology
6. To develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world

Curriculum Implementation: Delivery and Assessment

The sequence of teaching and assessment is planned to ensure that there is progression. Details of the Curriculum Plan can be found in the Faculty Curriculum folder.

At Key Stage 3, students have key assessed pieces to ensure continuity in teaching and learning across all groups. This is detailed for each module and can be found in the Faculty Curriculum folder. Retrieval exercises are built into the delivery of modules to ensure students re-visit key knowledge and skills at regular intervals thus securing retention of knowledge.

Y7 modules- rotate every 6/7 weeks:

• Sign Me Up
• Food, Diet and Health
• Holding It Together
• Treatwise
• Skill Up
• Food, Preparations and Origins

Y8 modules - rotate every 6/7 weeks

• Cityscape
• Food and the Environment
• Eco Sew
• In the Spotlight
• Papercraft
• Nutrition Mission

Y9 modules- rotate every 6/7 weeks

• Short and Sweet
• Patterns and Packaging
• Food science
• Loud Mouth
• A brick too far
• Sustainable stitches

Key Stage 4 and 5 subjects continue to extend knowledge and learning with the ultimate goal of equipping students with a plethora of transferable skills that will equip them for their future role in society.

Trips:

Year 9 Mad Museum (Mechanical Art & Design)

Year 10 National Motor Museum

Year 10 and Year 11 Good Food Show

Extra curricular activities:

Y7 STEM: Race to the Line

Y8 Textiles & Fashion

Y10 First Tech

Impact

Students will develop detailed knowledge throughout each Key Stage frequently embracing retrieval activities which ensure students are successful and ready for the next stage of their education, employment, or training.

The table below is a carousel you may or may not start in the subject area that states Autumn 1