Curriculum Statement: Design & Technology

“There's no learning without trying lots of ideas and failing lots of times.”

Jony Ive

The knowledge and skills that pupils will gain:

Using creativity and imagination, students engage in an iterative process of designing and making products that solve real world problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and other’s needs, wants and values.

Through this process, students learn how to take risks and acquire technical knowledge of materials, manufacturing methods, sustainable issues and designing & making principles (including mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art). With the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world.

Curriculum features: continuity, progression and sequencing

Prior to joining us in Year 9, middle school students are offered a broad and balanced curriculum that teaches them to design & make in a variety of material areas.

At TWBS, KS3 students get a skills-based experience of designing and making products in timber, metal & plastic as well as developing their use of computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacture (CAM). Students will use 2D & 3D CAD programs to design and with CAM, laser cut products. They will learn practical manufacturing skills through soldering electronic products as well as workshop based projects. In KS4 & KS5, students combine their knowledge and skills to undertake more holistic design & make projects, including the non-examined assessment (NEA).

Tradition, Excellence, Character: Co-curricular enrichment

Students are required to get outside of the classroom so that they interact and engage with people in their community to identify and investigate real world contexts for design. There is an expectation that students develop organisation and resilience when undertaking an extended design & make project. Other opportunities to enrich the curriculum include an annual design workshop with the James Dyson Foundation.