Design Technology

This section will include all technology strands:

  • Engineering Manufacturing

  • Food Preparation and Nutrition

  • Product Design

  • Textiles


Food Preparation and Nutrition Curriculum Intent Statement:

The Food Curriculum Intends:

  • To provide our young people with the skills and knowledge they need to provide for themselves a healthy and balanced diet. They will have the knowledge to understand what different foods can do for their body and the skills with which to prepare them.

  • For the students to engage with the science behind good nutrition from the beginning of our curriculum, learning about different nutrients, what their functions are and how it will affect them at all stages of their life.

  • To promote a healthy eating ethos and equip students with the practical skills needed to prepare meals that are nourishing, relevant to themselves and their families and with skills that can be used in many other recipes.

  • To embrace food from different cuisines, encouraging the exploration of recipes from other parts of the world as well as celebrating our own food culture and heritage.

  • To empower student’s choice of food through open and unbiased discussion over dietary choices based on ethical and moral considerations as well as learning where our food comes from and how it is processed.

  • To promote a love of cooking food that will fuel their bodies and minds every day of their lives, to understand how to lead a healthy lifestyle and about respecting their own and others food choices.

Click on the pictures below to find out more about the Key Stage 3 curriculum:

Click on the picture below to find out more about this as a Key Stage 4 curriculum option:

Links

Food Preparation and Nutrition

British Nutrition Foundation

Food Standards Agency


Product Design Curriculum Intent Statement:

Intent

Design and Technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Design and Technology encourages children to learn to think and intervene creatively to solve problems both as individuals and as members of a team. At Thorpe St Andrew School and Sixth Form, we encourage children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. We aim to, wherever possible, link work to other disciplines such as literacy, mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. The children are also given opportunities to reflect upon and evaluate past and present design technology, its uses and its effectiveness and are encouraged to become innovators and take ‘design-risks’.

Implementation

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, we teach the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. We encourage our pupils to be independent thinkers and designers, and at KS4 they will develop these attributes further through critiquing, evaluating, testing ideas, exploring the work of others – building on the foundation of skills developed at KS3.  The children design and create products that consider form, function and purpose and which are relevant to a range of sectors (for example, the home, school, leisure, culture, enterprise, industry and the wider environment). 

When designing and making, the children are taught to:

Design:

  • use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups.

  • generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design.

Make:

  • select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks (for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing, as well as chopping and slicing) accurately.

  • select from and use a wider range of materials, ingredients and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties, aesthetic qualities and, where appropriate, taste.

  • to create products they will be proud of!

Evaluate:

  • investigate and analyse a range of existing products.

  • evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work.

  • understand how key events and individuals in Design and Technology have helped shape the world.

Technical knowledge:

  • apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures.

  • understand and use mechanical systems in their products.

  • understand and use electrical systems in their products.

  • apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products

  • Understand some of the ways that food can be processed and the effect of different cooking practices (including baking and grilling).

Key skills and key knowledge for Design and Technology have been mapped across the school to ensure progression between year groups. The context for the children’s work in Design and Technology is also well considered and children learn about real life structures and the purpose of specific examples, as well as developing their skills throughout the programme of study. Design and Technology lessons are also taught as a block so that children’s learning is focused throughout each unit of work.

Impact

We ensure the pupils:

  • develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world

  • build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users and critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others

  • understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook. Children will design and make a range of products. A good quality finish will be expected in all design and activities made appropriate to the age and ability of the child

Pupils learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.

Click on the pictures below to find out more about the Key Stage 3 curriculum:

Click on the pictures below to find out more about these subjects as Key Stage 4 curriculum options:

Engineering Manufacturing:

Product Design:

Links

Product Design

Technology Student


Textiles Curriculum Intent Statement:

Textiles is an inspiring practical subject where you apply knowledge from a range of subjects such as Maths, Science, Geography and Art to design and make products to improve the world around you.

Our vision is that Textiles should be accessible to all, regardless of gender and we want to move away from stereotypes about who can succeed in Textiles and why the subject is important to us all. Textiles encompasses a wide range of products not just clothing and an awareness of sustainability and the impact of textiles on the world including new and emerging technologies and designer influences is as important as making skills.

We strive to equip students not just with a range of practical skills but with invaluable life skills such as identifying and solving design problems, creative thinking, problem solving, increased independence, research and analytical skills.

Click on the pictures below to find out more about the Key Stage 3 curriculum:

Click on the picture below to find out more about this as a Key Stage 4 curriculum option:

Links

Textiles

Pinterest


Sixth Form – Key Stage 5

View our Sixth Form pages for full information about the Courses on offer.