Content 

Design and Technology is studied by all students in Years 7, 8 and 9, working towards Key Stage 3 of the National Curriculum. We aim to give students the opportunity to combine their designing and making skills with knowledge and understanding, in order to design and make products. The students develop their technological skills, become more practically and visually literate as they work through the different material areas. They are able to make informed judgments about wider technological issues, are able to understand that constraints influence the development of their ideas, and are able to evaluate their work, and that of other people. Students work in the specialist areas of Food and Nutrition, Product Design – working in Resistant Materials, Textiles, and  CAD/CAM. These topics inter-relate to provide a homogeneous experience in Design and Technology.

Assessment, Marking and Feedback

All students are given an assessment record at the beginning of the year. The criteria that are assessed are:

• DESIGNING 
• MAKING
• EVALUATING

In the record there is a grid where students record their STANDARD GRADES at the end of each module. Not all assessment criteria are assessed in each module but all will be assessed at least twice during the year.

The standard grades are entered by the D&T teacher onto a department database which shows the highest grade achieved during the year by each student. Work undertaken in each module is marked. Standard Grades are awarded for the pieces of work that have been identified for that module. Comments are made on all work and suggestions for improvement are made.

Assessment grids

Please click here for the Design & Technology Key Stage 3 Standard Grades Assessment Grids.

Content 

GCSE Design & Technology prepares students to participate confidently and successfully in an increasingly technological world. Students gain awareness and learn from wider influences on Design & Technology including historical, social, cultural, environmental and economic factors. Students get the opportunity to work creatively when designing and making and apply technical and practical expertise. GCSE Design & Technology allows students to study core technical and designing and making principles, including a broad range of design processes, materials techniques and equipment. They also have the opportunity to study specialist technical principles in greater depth.

Assessment, Marking and Feedback

The exam and non-exam assessment (NEA) will measure how students have achieved the following assessment objectives:

• AO1 - Identify, investigate and outline design possibilities to address needs and wants
• AO2 - Design and make prototypes that are fit for purpose
• AO3 - Analyse and evaluate design decisions and outcomes, including for prototypes made by themselves and others, and wider issues in design and technology
• AO4 - Demonstrate and apply knowledge and understanding of 'technical' principles and 'designing and making' principles.

Year 10

In Year 10 students are assessed more rigorously against the GCSE NEA Assessment Criteria throughout the year to prepare them for the NEA in Year 11. Students are given clear guidance as to what should be included in their work and are provided with exemplar of a high standard for them to utilise. Students are assessed using the GCSE NEA Assessment criteria provided by the exam board and written feedback of the strengths and areas for improvement is recorded in their assessment booklet including a grade for each piece of work, this is then used to create a best fit mark for each of the above criteria where appropriate. We advise students to keep all of their assessment booklets and comments on work to reflect upon as they begin their coursework in Year 11 as only more generic feedback can be given at this stage. In Year 10, students are examined on: Core Technical Principles; Specialist Technical Principles; and Designing and Making Principles (100 marks). The exam is 2hrs long and uses sections of the GCSE exam papers provided from the exam board. Time is taken to go through the mark scheme to ensure that students understand what is required of them when responding to the different styles of questions.

Year 11

Year 11 is predominantly focussed on the NEA which is worth 50% (100 marks) of their final grade. This piece of coursework is started on the 1^st June in Year 10 and is approximately 35 hours of lesson time. With reference to the chosen context, students will be expected to develop a specific brief that meets the needs of a user, client or market and use the iterative design process to produce and evaluate a final prototype. Alongside the creation of the prototype, students produce a digital design folder which tells the story of their iterative journey evidencing how they have met the assessment criteria, along with digital evidence of the final manufactured outcome.

Students have access to exemplar work provided by the exam board and are advised on what to include in their work. The GCSE NEA Assessment criteria is used in the form of a booklet to give students generic written feedback on their work as they progress through the year. After coursework is completed, the Specification topics visited in all 3 years of the course are revised and practice exam style questions are focussed on. Peer assessment, self-assessment and teacher feedback is used to ensure students are well prepared for the 2 hour examination in the summer term which is worth 50% (100 marks) and includes: Core Technical Principles; Specialist Technical Principles; and Designing and Making Principles.

Specification 

Please click here for the AQA GCSE Design & Technology Specification

Content 

A Level Design & Technology: Product Design is a creative and thought-provoking qualification which gives students the practical skills, theoretical knowledge and confidence to succeed in a number of careers.

Students investigate historical, social, cultural, environmental and economic influences on Design & Technology, whilst enjoying opportunities to put their learning in to practice by producing prototypes of their choice.

Students gain a real understanding of what it means to be a designer, alongside the knowledge and skills sought by higher education and employers.

A Level Design & Technology: Product Design requires students to engage in both practical and theoretical study. These have been separated into:

• Technical principles
• Designing and Making principles.

Students develop the ability to draw on and apply a range of skills and knowledge from other subject areas to inform their decisions in design and the application or development of technology. There are clear links between aspects of the specification content and other subject areas such as: ‘the use of computer systems’ and ‘digital design and manufacture’ in Computer Science; ‘enterprise and marketing’ in the development of products in Business Studies; ‘design communication’ in Art; and ‘Design theory’ in History. This is not an exhaustive list, and there are other opportunities within the specification for students to integrate and apply their wider learning and understanding from other subject areas studied during Key Stage 4, as well as those subjects that they are studying alongside A Level Design & Technology. Students also apply maths and science skills to a wide range of Design & Technology contexts throughout the course.

Assessment, Marking and Feedback

The exams and non-examined assessment (NEA) measure how students achieve the following assessment objectives:

• AO1 -  Identify, investigate and outline design possibilities to address needs and wants
• AO2  - Design and make prototypes that are fit for purpose
• AO3  - Analyse and evaluate design decisions and outcomes, including for prototypes made by themselves and others, as well as wider issues in design and technology
• AO4 -  Demonstrate and apply knowledge and understanding of technical principles as well as designing and making principles.

Year 12

In Year 12, students are assessed using peer and teacher assessment. As much of the year is spent learning practical and theoretical skills, students receive written and oral feedback from the teacher on the strengths and areas for improvement within their work. Students undertake peer and self-assessment throughout the course and are encouraged to give and receive constructive feedback from others as part of the iterative design process. Students are given clear guidance as to what should be included in their work and are provided with exemplar work of a high standard for them to utilise. Students are assessed using the A Level NEA Assessment criteria provided by the exam board and written feedback is recorded in their assessment booklet with a grade for each piece of work; this is then used to create a best fit mark for each of the above criteria where appropriate. We advise students to keep their assessment booklet and comments on work to reflect upon as they begin their coursework in Year 13, as only more generic feedback can be given at this stage.

In the summer term, students undertake practice exam papers under timed conditions. These include:

Paper 1

Within Paper 1, Technical principles are assessed. It consists of a mixture of short answer and extended response questions. This paper is 2.5hrs long and worth 120 marks (30% of the final A Level grade).

Paper 2

Within Paper 2 Designing and Making Principles are assessed. This paper is 1.5hrs long and is worth 80 marks (20% of the final A Level grade).

It consists of 2 sections:

Section A: Product Analysis (30 marks) up to 6 short answer questions based on visual stimulus of product(s).

Section B: Commercial manufacture (50 marks) a mixture of short and extended response questions.

The marks from these examinations, alongside marks based on work completed against the NEA assessment criteria, are used to inform the predicted UCAS grade for the students.

Year 13

Year 13 is predominantly focussed on the NEA which is worth 50% (100 marks) of their final grade. There is no advisory time frame given by the exam board, however, students are set deadlines throughout the year to check the progress of their work and to provide generic feedback. Students undertake a small-scale design and make task and produce a final prototype based on a context and design brief developed by the student. With reference to the context, students develop a specific brief that meets the needs of a user, client or market. The brief must be of an appropriate level of complexity and contain a degree of uncertainty of the outcome so that students can engage in the iterative process of designing, making, testing and evaluating. Alongside the creation of the prototype, students produce a digital design folder which tells the story of their iterative journey evidencing how they have met the assessment criteria along with digital evidence of the final manufactured outcome.

Students have access to exemplar work provided by the exam board and are advised on what to include in their work. The A Level NEA Assessment criteria is used in the form of a booklet to give students generic written feedback on their work as they progress through the year.

After coursework is completed, the Specification topics visited in both Years 12 and 13 are revised and practice exam style questions are focussed on. Peer assessment, self-assessment and teacher feedback is used to ensure students are well prepared for both examinations in the summer term.

Paper 1

Within Paper 1, Technical principles are assessed. It consists of a mixture of short answer and extended response questions. This paper is 2.5hrs long and worth 120 marks (30% of the final A Level grade).

Paper 2

Within Paper 2, Designing and Making Principles are assessed. This paper is 1.5hrs long and is worth 80 marks (20% of the final A Level grade).

It consists of 2 sections:

Section A: Product Analysis (30 marks) up to 6 short answer questions based on visual stimulus of product(s).

Section B: Commercial manufacture (50 marks) a mixture of short and extended response questions.

Specification 

Please click here for the AQA A Level Design & Technology Product Design Specification

The details of recipes and ingredients used in Year 7 work can be found here.

The details of recipes and ingredients used in Year 9 work can be found here.

The ingredients used in GCSE work can be found here.

The AQA GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition specification can be found here

Advice

The GCSE in Design and Technology and Food Preparation and Nutrition and the A Level in Design and Technology: Product Design were new in 2017 and first examined in 2019, so there are a limited number of past papers available.

Past papers

GCSE

Click here for the link to the AQA GCSE Design and Technology past papers and mark schemes.

Click here for the link to the AQA GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition past papers and mark schemes.

A Level

Click here for the link to the AQA A Level Design and Technology: Product Design past papers and mark schemes.

Useful external links 

Click here for BBC GCSE Bitesize for Design & Technology; a website with a wealth of information on many of the topics covered.

Click here for Technology student; a website with a wealth of information on many of the topics covered.

Click here for Design & Technology online; a website with a wealth of information on many of the topics covered.

Click here for a website all about Ergonomics.

Click here for Sustainable Design & Technology; information to help with social, moral, cultural and environmental topics.

Potential Careers

• Product design engineering
• Engineering
• Industrial design
• Product design
• Product design and innovation
• Furniture design
• Graphic design
• Web design
• Architecture
• Brand design
• Packaging design
• Interior design
• Automotive and transport design
• Retail design
• Sports product design
• Sustainable product design
• Digital games production
• Design and craft
• 3d design
• Product design and technology
• Design for industry

Clubs

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Club – Tuesdays after school.

Regular lunchtime and after school support sessions are offered for students to work on coursework or just to work on personal projects.

Trips and visits

New Designers Exhibition annually – Years 10 and 12