Sutton Grammar School

Design and Technology is a practical subject. It is about creating the solution to solve a problem and about the theory learnt in parallel to the practical activity. The aim is to try and give pupils as wide a base of knowledge and experience as possible, from which they can make decisions and choices about design problems.

Projects in Years 7, 8 and 9 are organised so that every pupil can achieve, at least, a minimum level of success. Differentiation is then introduced through extension work and design style. In Year 10, design projects become more open-ended in preparation for the GCSE exam, and Year 11 pupils are allowed, for the first time, responsibility for their own projects. This responsibility in the design process is extended into Years 12 and 13.

There is a need to strike a balance between the range of abilities when choosing and structuring projects. Some pupils can identify needs and produce the required design process and realisation. There are often pupils who need guidance for one reason or another, whether it be a lack of confidence, inspiration or understanding, it is not always directly related to academic ability. The important factor is that all pupils have the opportunity to experience, and gain access to, their entitlement of the technological process, and are not excluded through academic or ‘skill’ considerations.

Teaching and learning styles reflect the general ethos of the school - that pupils are being educated to be ‘thinkers’ not workers. In the time made available within a crowded curriculum there have to be compromises made in the balence between craft skills and the creative and technological process. Tools and skills may be put second in the overall process, but the properties of materials and their role in construction is recognised. As pupils progress, the quality of production becomes more important, as demanded by the National Curriculum and the Exam Boards. Projects are product-design based, so the pupils must have an appreciation of materials and processes, but not perhaps those demanded by the more traditional CDT of the recent past.

Progress is monitored and advice given throughout all stages of the Design Process, with all pupils receiving assessment marks and grades. Missing or lost work will not be given a mark, unless exceptional circumstances are acknowledged, and there is a prerequisite for good quality presentation in all aspects of both paper and practical submissions.

Design and Technology in the Classroom

Key Stage 3
GCSE
AS and A-Level

Excellence across the curriculum