Design Technology & Food Preparation
Curriculum Aims:
In a technology driven world, it is easy to let a mechanical process override thoughtful consideration of the human experience. We encourage and build empathy, helping pupils to adopt a user-centred approach, and combating the bad habit of relying on mechanics to define form and function. In Design Technology and Food Preparation, we enable our pupils to develop the skills to engage positively with the designed and made world, harnessing the benefits of technology. Pupils will learn how products and systems are designed and manufactured, facilitating them to use creativity and imagination and providing them with a sense of purpose to improve the world around them. Pupils will learn to use the iterative design process to design and make products using relevant and the most up to date technologies. It is our belief that we will equip pupils to become entrepreneurial in their approach to products - designing and making to such a high quality that they are commercially viable, and considering the future impact of their designs on the environment.
Curriculum Features:
Our projects at Key Stage 3 focus on the mastering of basic practical skills, which is essential to becoming an expert at KS4. The projects ensure pupils are confident in using the tools and equipment safely in the workshops and understand the working properties of a range of materials. Our lighting project at KS3 encourages pupils through the iterative design process to plan, modify, compare and combine design ideas considering cultural values and sustainability. Pupils will learn to understand advancements in technology and global changes - they use CAD/CAM, electronics and systems in KS3, building these skills at KS4. This is also the same for Food Preparation and Nutrition as projects are closely linked to real life and industry. Pupils are developing higher order thinking skills ensuring all that is made is purposeful.
“Manufacturing is more than just putting parts together. It’s coming up with ideas, testing principles and perfecting the engineering as well as final assembly”
- James Dyson, British Engineer
Design and Technology is the practical application of Physics and Maths which feature throughout projects within the curriculum, the T in STEM. We focus on sustainable materials: 'timbers' and 'paper and boards'. Pupils secure knowledge of these materials enabling them to make independent and informed choices during their Non Examination Assessment (NEA) task at KS4. Creative expertise is required to specialise and to become a resourceful innovator when generating ideas for the NEA contextual challenge.
Pupils remain with a subject specialist teacher in KS3 and KS4 enabling a challenging, consistent approach and the development of relationships where practical demonstrations and activities enthuse and engage pupils. We consider British values as we teach an ethical, diverse and inclusive range of projects. These are continually evaluated and revised to maintain enthusiasm. Learning environments support the teaching and enhance the learning as informative resources.
Co-curricular experiences:
We encourage pupils to work creatively after school, offering the opportunity to pursue projects of their choosing to encourage the use of critical thinking skills as they plan, adapt their ideas, developing innovation and resourcefulness in the pupils.
We participate in the IET Faraday Challenge in Year 8 which is an annual, national engineering-based competition of STEM activity days with a real-world challenge for pupils aged 12-13 years. This aims to inspire the next generation of engineers and technicians.
We also attend the Rotary Challenge Technology Tournaments which are one day events for multiple teams of four students to engage with Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) by collectively solving a previously unseen technology task. Each team is challenged to plan, design, develop, build and then test their solution, with the tournament offering a fun way to develop team building, communication and time management skills.
What follows is a current summary of the intended subject curriculum content in each year of the key stage. It highlights the key knowledge and skills intended for learning, and some of the ways progress in the curriculum is to be assessed. It clarifies the key questions students should be addressing and gives links to help students and families to develop this learning further.
KS3 - Design Technology
We offer a range of Design Technology specialisms drawn from Product Design, Food Preparation & Nutrition, Food Technology, Systems Control and Paper & boards throughout Key Stage 3, where skills such as problem analysis and solution, research methods, design and control mechanisms are developed. They are taught how to use current technologies and consider the impact of future technological developments.
KS4
GCSE Design and Technology
GCSE Design and Technology will prepare students to participate confidently and successfully in an increasingly technological world. Students will gain awareness and learn from wider influences on Design and Technology including historical, social, cultural, environmental and economic factors. Students will get the opportunity to work creatively when designing and making and apply technical and practical expertise.
The GCSE allows students to study core technical and designing and making principles, including a broad range of design processes, materials techniques and equipment. They will also have the opportunity to study specialist technical principles in greater depth.
Hospitality and Catering level ½ award
The WJEC Level 1/2 Award in Hospitality and Catering has been designed to support learners in schools and colleges who want to learn about this vocational sector and the potential it can offer them for their careers or further study. It is most suitable as a foundation for further study, providing learners with a core depth of knowledge and a range of specialist and general skills that will support their progression to further learning and employment.
The hospitality and catering sector includes all businesses that provide food, beverages, and/or accommodation services. This includes restaurants, hotels, pubs and bars. It also includes airlines, tourist attractions, hospitals and sports venues; businesses where hospitality and catering is not their primary service but is increasingly important to their success. According to the British Hospitality Association, hospitality and catering is Britain’s fourth largest industry and accounts for around 10% of the total workforce. Since 2010, over 25% of all new jobs have been within the hospitality and catering sector with the majority of new roles falling within the 18-24 age groups, according to a report by People 1st.
The WJEC Vocational Award in Hospitality and Catering has been designed to support learners in schools and colleges who want to learn about this vocational sector and the potential it can offer them for their careers or further study. It is most suitable as a foundation for further study. This further study would provide learners with the opportunity to develop a range of specialist and general skills that would support their progression to employment. Employment in hospitality and catering can range from waiting staff, receptionists and catering assistants to chefs, hotel and bar managers and food technologists working for supermarket chains. All of these roles require further education and training either through apprenticeships or further and higher education.
Course plan for WJEC Level 1_2 Vocational Award Hospitality & Catering
