In Design and Technology pupils combine practical and technological skills with creative thinking to design and make products and systems that meet human needs. They learn to use current technologies and consider the impact of future technological developments. They learn to think creatively and intervene to improve the quality of life, solving problems as individuals and members of a team using the different material areas of resistant materials, textiles and food.
Aims and purposes of our Design and Technology department
Design and Technology offers opportunities for pupils to:
- develop their designing and making skills;
- develop knowledge and understanding of materials and components; systems and control; and structures;
- develop their capability, through combining their designing and making skills with knowledge and understanding to design and make products;
- nurture creativity and innovation through designing and making;
- explore values about and attitudes to the made world and how we live, work and interact within it;
- develop a critical understanding of technological processes, products and their manufacture, and how they contribute to our society;
- prepare for making a contribution to life and work in a technological society;
- relate and apply knowledge and understanding from across the curriculum.
Key Stage 3
In Years 7, 8 and 9 pupils carry out a series of design and make projects in the three material areas of resistant materials, textiles, robotics and food.
Year 7
In Year 7 our aim is to produce creative autonomous designers with the will and insight to want to change and modify our environment for the better. This is taught through exciting units of work in the material areas of food, resistant materials and textiles. The core of every material area is the design process which develops skills in:
- Generation, development and communication of ideas
- Creative response and problem solving of briefs and tasks
- Applying knowledge and understanding of materials and processes
- Reflection and evaluation of own designing
By the end of Year 7 pupils will have a portfolio of 2D and 3D design solutions that will evidence their analytical, theoretical and practical capabilities within the context of design.
Year 8
Year 8 builds upon the skills taught in Year 7 with more focus on the social, moral, environmental and cultural considerations designers face in our times, with teamwork and enterprise being core elements. The units of work will be in the areas of food, resistant materials, robotics and textiles but with more advanced skills and processes being taught and developed.
By the end of Year 8 girls will be independent innovators with confidence in all 3 material areas. Their skills in the design process will be enhanced and as a result a more sophisticated, exploratory and developed portfolio will be evident in both 2D and 3D.
Year 9
Year 9 is an exciting time for pupils to use their experience in the previous two years to create one personal and one team design and make activity within resistant materials and/or textiles. Pupils compose their own briefs and will create exciting products with clear needs to better the world around them. The full design process will be carried out from research, generating and developing ideas, modelling, trialling and testing and the full realisation of an end product.
Also in Year 9 girls take on an intensive cooking course to further develop their skills in food and nutrition. With more emphasis on healthy eating and lifestyle and our children being taught life skills, we feel this is an important and invaluable part of the curriculum at Gravesend Grammar School for Girls.
Key Stage 4
The department offers courses in:
Product Design Technology – Using materials such as plastics, woods, metals to create items such as storage, sustainable and jewellery products
Textiles Technology – Using the many different fibres and fabrics to create products for both fashion and interior spaces
Food Technology – Using ingredients to modify and create new and exciting food products
Design and Technology is a practical subject area which requires the application of knowledge and understanding when developing ideas, planning, producing products and evaluating them. The distinction between Designing and Making is a convenient one to make, but in practice the two often merge. For example, research can involve not only investigating 2D material and people’s opinions, but also investigating e.g. proportion, function, colour, structure and material through practical work.
All of these courses are underpinned by the same generic process of designing but the material areas create different challenges that give the opportunity to be creative, innovative and develop design solutions. There is a huge emphasis on problem solving and recognising the moral, social, cultural and environmental issues within design, as a product can, in reality, have both a positive and negative effect on our society.
In carrying out projects you will develop your planning and presentation skills. Using a variety of media, including ICT; you will produce a portfolio of work that will demonstrate your ability to communicate in a variety of ways.
Assessment for all of these courses is through:
A controlled assessment task (coursework) 60%
Examination 40%
Success in any of the design courses will provide an opportunity for further study at AS and A Level.
Key Stage 5
Pupils have the option to choose to carry on their studies to A level in Food Technology, Product Design or Textiles Design