Design & Technology

The Design & Technology Department at The Hayesbrook School aims ...

• To foster awareness, understanding and expertise in those areas of creative thinking which can be expressed and developed through investigation, research, planning, designing, making and evaluating , working with tools and equipment.
• To encourage the acquisition of a body of knowledge applicable to solving practical / technological problems operating through a process of analysis, synthesis and realisation.
• To stimulate the development of communication skills which are central to designing, making and evaluating.
• To stimulate the development of making skills within a range of food, graphic and resistant materials
• To encourage pupils to relate their work,  which should demand active and experimental learning based upon the use of resistant materials, to their personal interests and abilities.
• To promote the development of curiosity, enquiry, initiative, ingenuity, resourcefulness and discrimination.
• To encourage technological awareness, foster attitudes of co-operation and social responsibility, and develop abilities to enhance the quality of the environment.
  
• To stimulate the exercising of value judgements of an aesthetic, technical, economic and moral nature.
• To provide pupils with the opportunity to work as an individual or as part of a team.
• To make pupils aware of the importance of safe working in a practical environment, incorporating the use of tools, machines , equipment, behaviour and hygiene.

• To implement and contribute towards whole school curriculum aims where it is possible and appropriate to do so in a technological environment.

In Year 7, students are taught to develop, communicate, plan and realise design ideas. They do this in a variety of different environments, using a range of tools, equipment and materials, with particular attention to health and safety issues.

This is delivered through:

• A skills based project in which students make a steady hand game as an introduction to electronics. It also equips them with basic workshop skills in a range of materials
• Undertaking a group engineering project to investigate strengthening materials. Students then design a structure using CAD and CAE (computer aided design/engineering) before going on to test and evaluate the structures that they have built
• Investigating, designing and making a mechanism
• In food technology, students will be undertaking 'Licence to Cook', which is a national initiative to get students learning basic cooking skills to equip them for a healthy and balanced lifestyle

In Year 8, pupils develop and refine the skills of researching, generating, communicating and planning design ideas. This is coupled with learning practical skills, to enable them to make products of increasing complexity.

This is delivered through:

• A computer aided design and manufacturing project to make a flat packed desk tidy
• Designing and making a wooden box
• Designing and making a mini golf course and winner's medal
• Studying international staple foods in food technology

In Year 9, students work on a range of tasks in Food, Graphics and Resistant Materials. In so doing, they focus on particular practical skills, gaining a knowledge of the materials and processes involved and extending their understanding of the design process.

Key Stage 4

At Key Stage 4 the department offers Graphic Products and Resistant Materials at GCSE.

Key Stage 5

For Key Stage 5 students we offer a course in Product Design A Level.