Design Technology at the Polygon school

Ethos

At the Polygon school, we believe that Design Technology is an important tool in changing and improving the lives of young people. We operate a strong ethos of inclusion and enjoyment, whilst building confidence and raising the self-esteem of our boys. We believe it is important our pupils learn as many important transferable skills, such as developing good design, creativity and practical skills. This includes developing; communication skills, teamwork skills, problem solving skills, creative skills, developing pupil’s imagination and building their resilience. Our Department aims to provide our boys with a variety of opportunities to build cultural capital through exposure to external competitions creating wider experiences all well as trips.

Intent

Key Stage 3 (years 7-9)

The primary objective at this key stage is for our pupils to develop their confidence and interest and a basic competence in Design Technology. We aim to do this by pupils working through a variety of differentiated and personalised learning activities.  Design Technology is an inspiring, motivational, creative and practical subject. At this stage, our pupils are encouraged to develop their thought processes through planning and discussion and developing their practical skills.  Every lesson there is an understanding of health and safety being taught through every task. Lesson activities follow the governments KS3 National curriculum in England: design and technology programmes of study all this with the aim of building their creativity and imagination to producing a variety of products using different mediums.

We believe that Design Technology promotes SMSC and British values through educating our pupils to think about the impact of their designing and making, on the environment and people. We investigate sustainability and the clear understanding of how this is applied to designing new products are paramount if we are to protect the world’s natural resources. Pupils are also expected to grow and develop a sense of social responsibility, mutual respect and care for each other, this is taught in our teaching of acceptable behaviour and the pupils own self-regulation and accountability. We expect pupils to influence the behaviour of others around them by encouraging a confidence to challenge each other when standards fall below our collective expectations.

Mutual respect is fostered through the process of peer evaluation. We empower pupils to take criticism positively and to articulate their views in a respectful and sensitive way. We support this through the celebration of human fallibility as a motivator to learn and succeed.

We support pupils search for Meaning and Purpose through encouraging creativity in projects and challenge them with fundamental questions. How will my designing benefit humanity? Pupils draw upon a variety of sources for inspiration. Many of these are natural but true creativity comes from the freedom to explore by teaching through more open-ended projects.

Equal Opportunities

This is taught through collaborative and team learning. We value all contributions and celebrating these as well as pupil outcomes. We try to instil in pupils that the journey is more important than the outcome because that is where true understanding is achieved.

Pupils will design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. They acquire a broad range of subject knowledge in resistant materials, electronics, textiles and product design in disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. Pupils learn how to take risks, become resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. In addition to time-tabled lessons, pupils will have the opportunity to compete in external competitions such as; design a product in a tin and the r/c power boat challenge where pupils design, build and race a remote-controlled boat.

Qualifications

All pupils have the opportunity to complete AQA award units which help to build up a portfolio of certificates that demonstrate their design and practical skills. Year 9 pupils have the opportunity to complete NCFE Entry Level qualification in Craft - Creative studies.

Key stage 4 (years 10-11)

KS4 Purpose of Study

Pupils will continue to develop and build on the skills they have learnt during KS3, as well as enhance their in-depth knowledge of various materials and the design processes. They will learn to investigate given tasks by analysing the given problem and the consumers; needs, wants and opportunities and respond to them by developing and investigating a range of ideas, products and developing systems. Pupils will combine their practical skills with an understanding of aesthetics, social and environmental issues, and functionality, Maths and Engineering to find the creative solutions to a variety of given problems.

KS4 pupils will begin their IGCSE qualification where they will learn to use the design processes to create their final product against a given problem. Pupils are encouraged and given the skills to become independent learners who are able to evaluate and modify their designs and build their own projects. Pupils will learn self-evaluation and reflective skills which all contributes to help building their resilience and problems-solving skills.

Qualifications

Pupils will have the chance to gain a qualification in: -

Cambridge IGCSE  (9-1) Design Technology

This qualification enables learners to identify, consider and solve problems through creative thinking, planning and design, and by working with different media, materials and tools to produce a made product.  Learners gain technical and design awareness and develop skills such as initiative, resourcefulness, enquiry and ingenuity. They also develop the communication skills central to the design process.

The course is designed to accommodate a wide range of interests, materials and resources. It provides an ideal basis for further study and equips learners with technical knowledge and practical designing and making skills for the world of work.

The course is made up of a practical element with a written portfolio which is work 50% and 2 exams which are worth 25% each. Pupils can choose to do either a Resistant materials or Graphics project.

Implementation

Pupils will cover the following topics through a mix of theory and practical lessons:

• Orthographic drawing by hand
• Product development
• Product research
• Initial ideas and evaluation
• Sustainability issues
• Safe use of equipment and tools
• Developing Math skills through measuring, calculating and estimating
• Design and build of product

Impact

As a Department we expect positive outcomes for pupils and hope to see an increase in participation levels and engagement across the school. Positive progress can be monitored through; the emotional literacy data, progress in pupil’s class workbook, achievements of accredited awards and the achieving the GCSE.

We further support our pupils by sign posting potential career paths and opportunities for further education in a variety of different CDT disciplines including engineering, construction, carpentry, graphical orthographic designers, electronics and motor vehicle maintenance.