Year 7 Curriculum Overview

Year 7 is about getting the basics right: working safely, measuring carefully and checking work before moving on. The Pencil Holder is a workshop project in wood. The Alessi Clock is a design project, from research and sketching through to a finished clock made with a laser cutter. Both end with students judging their own work honestly.

Subject: Design and Technology

Project: Pencil Holder

What students will study

Students make a pencil holder from two pieces of pine that slot together in the shape of a cross, using a joint where half the wood is cut away from each piece. First they learn about different kinds of wood and whether using timber can ever be kind to the environment, including what the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label on wood products means.

They then work in the order a professional would: marking out, sawing, chiselling, drilling holes for the pencils, sanding, gluing and staining. Each tool is demonstrated first and the teacher checks work at key stages, because a badly marked line cannot be put right later. At the end, students judge their holder, including how well the joint fits and how even the finish is and say what they would improve.

Cross-curricular links

Mathematics. Measuring and marking to within half a millimetre and checking right angles.

English and literacy. New vocabulary, a written answer on whether wood is always a sustainable choice and a written evaluation of their own work.

PSHE. Learning and following workshop safety rules and sticking at it when a joint does not fit first time.

How you can support your child at home

• Choose a wooden object at home and ask your child what kind of wood it might be and why the maker chose it. Guessing first, then checking online, is the point.
• Look for the FSC logo on paper, packaging or furniture and look up together what it means.
• Ask your child to measure a book to the nearest millimetre, then draw a rectangle exactly the same size.

Project: Alessi Clock

What students will study

Students look at products from Alessi, an Italian company known for well-designed household objects and ask some difficult questions. Its products cost between £50 and £400, so who can afford good design? What does making them cost the environment? There are no tidy answers and students are asked to give and defend their own view, which links to Catholic Social Teaching on human dignity and care for creation.

They then compare existing clocks, write a short list of what their own clock needs to do, sketch several ideas and choose the best. The chosen design is drawn on computer, laser cut from acrylic and decorated using heat to transfer their printed image into the surface. A clock mechanism makes it a working clock. Nobody uses the laser cutter until they have passed a safety quiz. No two clocks are the same.

Cross-curricular links

Mathematics. Drawing circles with compasses and mirroring a design so that it prints the right way round.

English and literacy. Writing about right and wrong in design and giving feedback that is honest and kind.

Computing. Drawing designs in Adobe Illustrator and seeing how a computer file becomes a real object.

PSHE. Thinking about fair prices and the people who make what we buy. Every student writes a compliment for a classmate's clock.

How you can support your child at home

• Look at clocks and other everyday objects at home. What makes them attractive, practical or odd? Who were they designed for?
• Pick a household item and guess what it cost and whether it was worth it. Then check where it was made and talk about who made it.
• Ask your child to sketch a clock face three ways: using shapes, using nature and using numbers and lettering.

Year 8 Curriculum Overview

Year 8 asks for more precision and independence. Each project runs for nine weeks at one lesson a week. The Desk Lamp brings in new processes: soldering, bending plastic with heat and shaping it with a vacuum. In the Bus Shelter, students turn a set of requirements into accurate drawings and then a model. They also begin answering short exam-style questions, to practise explaining their thinking in writing.

Subject: Design and Technology

Project: Desk Lamp

What students will study

Students make a working LED desk lamp. They begin with plastics, learning why some soften when heated and others do not and why that matters when making things. They then solder a small electrical circuit, learning why each part has to go in the right place and the right way round.

The lamp stem is cut from acrylic, drilled and bent along a line softened by a heater. The shade is a flat sheet of plastic pulled into shape on a vacuum former, then trimmed and smoothed. The base is a wood-based board, shaped, sanded and stained. Students join everything with a nut and bolt, screws and glue, explaining why each suits its job. Finally they test the lamp and judge how well it works, how well it is made and how it looks.

Cross-curricular links

Mathematics. Measuring in millimetres and positioning holes and bend angles accurately. A hole slightly out and the lamp will not fit together.

Science. How a circuit works and why it needs a resistor and how plastics behave when heated.

English and literacy. Technical vocabulary and explaining in writing why each step is done the way it is.

PSHE. Using soldering irons and heated equipment safely and working in small groups.

How you can support your child at home

• Choose three plastic items at home. Do they bend or stay stiff? Talk about why that plastic suits the job.
• Look at a battery torch or battery fairy lights and ask your child how it works. What does the switch do? Why does the electricity need a complete loop? Please use battery items only, never anything that plugs into the mains.
• Look at how a lamp, stool or toy is held together. Why might the designer have chosen screws, bolts or glue?

Project: Norman Foster Bus Shelter

What students will study

Students design and build a card model of a bus shelter in the style of the architect Norman Foster. They start by asking what a bus shelter needs to do and for whom: commuters, older people, wheelchair users, parents with buggies. They then study Foster's high-tech style, with its exposed steel, large areas of glass, clean shapes and little decoration, seen in the "Gherkin" in London and the Reichstag dome in Berlin.

Students are given a short list of Foster-style requirements and must show how their idea meets at least four of them. They draw it from the front, side and back and in 3D, with every measurement matching. After practising on a cube and a cylinder, they mark out and cut the card with a craft knife under supervision, test the fit with masking tape, glue it together and evaluate the result.

Cross-curricular links

Mathematics. Measuring in millimetres, working to scale, symmetry and the link between the width of a circle and the distance round it.

English and literacy. New vocabulary, labelling drawings and writing an evaluation.

Geography. How a shelter might need to differ between town and countryside.

PSHE. Designing for different people's needs and using knives and hot glue safely.

How you can support your child at home

• When you are out, look at bus shelters together. What keeps the weather off? Is there seating and lighting? How would a wheelchair user or a parent with a buggy manage?
• Look up the Gherkin or the Reichstag dome and spot the glass, steel and curves. Can you find a building nearby that is similar?
• Open out an empty cereal box and lay it flat. That flat shape is called a net. Ask your child to measure it and explain where the folds are.

Year 9 Curriculum Overview

Year 9 projects last eighteen lessons, which gives students time to work as designers do: research, decide, develop, make and review. Both projects use Adobe Illustrator drawing software and a machine to make the final product. Students make more of their own decisions, choosing and improving their best idea using evidence and each project ends with a written test. Together, Years 7 to 9 give a firm base for GCSE Design and Technology.

Subject: Design and Technology

Project: Coded in Colour

What students will study

Pattern is one of the oldest ways people tell stories. Students study genuine patterns from Ghanaian, Indian, Māori, Slavic, Celtic, Italian and Zimbabwean traditions, working out what the colours, shapes and symbols mean. In Kente cloth from Ghana, for example, gold traditionally stands for wealth and status.

They then write down what their own design needs to achieve, sketch four ideas for an original pattern inspired by one culture and refine the best. It is redrawn on screen in Adobe Illustrator, then printed onto a T-shirt, tote bag, pencil case or mug using a heat press. One question runs throughout: how can you use another culture's traditions respectfully in something that might be sold? Students judge whether the finished item tells the story they intended.

Cross-curricular links

Mathematics. Symmetry, repetition and scale, including why a pattern that suits a T-shirt may look different on a mug.

English and literacy. Presenting findings to the class and writing evaluations using the vocabulary of the project.

Computing. Building a digital pattern in Adobe Illustrator and saving and sending files through school systems.

PSHE. Respect for other cultures, thinking about the ethics of using other people's traditions and being honest about their own work.

History and geography. Where each tradition comes from and what it means to the people who created it.

How you can support your child at home

• Go on a pattern hunt around the house: fabrics, rugs, wrapping paper, packaging, tiles. What repeats? Which colours stand out and what mood do they create?
• If your family has fabrics, clothing or crafts connected to your heritage, ask your child to find out what the patterns or colours mean. If not, pick two national flags and discuss what their colours might stand for, then check.
• Find a mug, bag or T-shirt decorated with a cultural pattern. Does it look respectful and well designed? Who is it for?

Project: Art Deco Phone Stand

What students will study

Art Deco is the look of the 1920s and 1930s: bold geometric shapes, symmetry, sunbursts and stepped forms. Students find out why it looks as it does, from the machine age and the years after the First World War to the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, along with influences from Egyptian, Aztec, African and Japanese design.

They then design a phone stand made of parts that slot together. They learn how designers use body measurements and comfort to make products that suit the people using them and test how the size and position of the slots decide whether a card model stands firm or wobbles. Half a millimetre can matter. Ideas are developed by hand, then drawn precisely in Adobe Illustrator. The stand is cut from plywood on a laser cutter, then evaluated.

Cross-curricular links

Mathematics. Measuring in millimetres, symmetry and angles and allowing for the thin strip of material the laser removes.

Science. Forces and stability and the friction that holds a slot joint together.

English and literacy. New vocabulary and a short written explanation of how the machine age shaped Art Deco.

Computing. Preparing a digital drawing so that a laser cutter can follow it.

PSHE. Following strict laser safety rules and checking their own work before it is cut.

How you can support your child at home

• Look for Art Deco in buildings, cinemas, hotels, furniture, jewellery and old posters. Can your child spot sunbursts, zigzags or stepped shapes and sketch one? Online pictures of Art Deco buildings work well too.
• Measure your phone's width, height and thickness, then try propping it at different angles with books. Which angle suits watching a video or making a call and which stays put?
• Find a flat-pack item or a card box that slots together and talk about how the parts stay in place without glue. What would go wrong if a slot were too wide or too tight?

Year 10 is the start of the GCSE course (AQA Design and Technology). Students learn how materials and machines work then finish the year with a mini NEA: a practice run of the coursework (non-exam assessment) they complete in Year 11. Nothing from it is graded.

How the GCSE is assessed

Paper 1 (a 2-hour written exam) is worth 50% and the NEA (a 30 to 35 hour design-and-make project) is worth 50%. AQA marks four assessment objectives (AO):

AO	What it means (AQA wording)	Assessed in
AO1	Identify, investigate and outline design possibilities to address needs and wants	NEA
AO2	Design and make prototypes that are fit for purpose	NEA
AO3	Analyse and evaluate design decisions and outcomes (including prototypes made by themselves and others) and wider issues in design and technology	NEA and Paper 1
AO4	Demonstrate and apply knowledge and understanding of technical principles and designing and making principles	Paper 1

Terms 1 and 2: Materials and plastics

What students will study. Materials, their properties and how they behave under force. Students pass a workshop safety test then work with plastics (acrylic and HIPS). They cut and bend them with heat, print designs into acrylic, blow domes and shape sheet plastic with a vacuum. They check their work against tolerances (tight measurements). A written assessment ends Term 2.

AQA specification content. 3.1.3 Developments in new materials; 3.1.6 Materials and their working properties; 3.2.2 Forces and stresses; 3.2.5 Using and working with materials; 3.2.8 Specialist techniques and processes; 3.2.9 Surface treatments and finishes; 3.3.8 Tolerances.

Assessment objectives. The knowledge is AO4 (Paper 1). The practical work builds the skills for AO2.

Cross-curricular links. Mathematics (tolerances and costs); Science (how plastics respond to heat and force) and PSHE (safety and recycling).

How you can support your child at home

• Look at plastic products at home. Why was that plastic chosen and what happens to it when it is thrown away?
• Ask your child to explain something they made and how they checked it was accurate.

Terms 3 and 4: Machines, wood-based materials and drawing

What students will study. Students prepare a computer drawing for a laser cutter then use a bandfacer (a sanding machine) and a pillar drill. They bend plywood in layers and practise three MDF joints (finger, rebate and housing). They learn isometric (3D) drawing, perspective and technical working drawings. Late in Term 4 the focus moves to theory: energy, systems, mechanisms, new technologies, environmental impact and designing for the human body.

AQA specification content. 3.1.1 New and emerging technologies; 3.1.2 Energy generation and storage; 3.1.4 Systems approach to designing; 3.1.5 Mechanical devices; 3.2.3 Ecological and social footprint; 3.3.5 Communication of design ideas; 3.3.8 Tolerances.

Assessment objectives. The theory is AO4 (Paper 1). Drawing and machine work develops AO2. Body measurement data begins AO1.

Cross-curricular links. Mathematics (scale and measurement); Science (energy and forces); Computing (drawings in Adobe Illustrator) and PSHE (safe machine use and the impact of products).

How you can support your child at home

• Look at flat-pack furniture instructions together. They use technical drawings. Can your child explain one?
• Pick something with a lever or gear such as scissors or a bike. Ask your child to sketch it and explain how it works.

Terms 5 and 6: Designers and the mini NEA

What students will study. Students study designers (Norman Foster and Philippe Starck) and companies (Alessi and Dyson) then sit a written assessment. The rest of the time is the mini NEA on the theme of teenage lifestyle. Students choose a client and a problem and research it. They write a brief and specification (a list of measurable requirements) then sketch and test ideas. They then draw, make and test a prototype.

AQA specification content. 3.3.1 Investigation, primary and secondary data; 3.3.3 The work of others; 3.3.4 Design strategies; 3.3.5 Communication of design ideas; 3.3.6 Prototype development.

Assessment objectives. The written assessment practises AO4. The mini NEA is marked out of 100 in the same six sections as the real NEA:

Section	AO	Marks
A Identifying and investigating design possibilities	AO1	10
B Producing a design brief and specification	AO1	10
C Generating design ideas	AO2	20
D Developing design ideas	AO2	20
E Realising design ideas	AO2	20
F Analysing and evaluating	AO3	20

Cross-curricular links. Mathematics (costs and measurements); English (the brief and the evaluation); Computing (charts) and PSHE (listening to feedback).

How you can support your child at home

• Ask about their mini NEA problem. What everyday problem could a well-designed product solve for people their age?
• Pick a product at home and talk about who designed it and why it works well or badly.

Year 11 is spent completing the real NEA, which is worth 50% of the GCSE. Students work through one design-and-make project from an AQA context. It takes 30 to 35 hours and produces a working prototype and a portfolio of about 20 pages of A3 paper or the digital equivalent. AQA releases the contexts on 1 June in the year before the NEA is submitted. The mini NEA in Year 10 means students already know what each section asks for.

The NEA: sections A to F

What students will study

Students choose a client and a problem within their context and work through six sections in order. They investigate the problem and write a design brief and specification. They generate and develop design ideas then make a prototype. They finish by testing it against their specification and evaluating it.

Section	AO	Marks	What students do
A Identifying and investigating design possibilities	AO1	10	Investigate the context and client using primary and secondary data
B Producing a design brief and specification	AO1	10	Write a brief and a list of measurable requirements
C Generating design ideas	AO2	20	Use design strategies to produce a range of ideas influenced by the work of others
D Developing design ideas	AO2	20	Model and test the chosen idea then produce a working drawing with tolerances and a plan for manufacture
E Realising design ideas	AO2	20	Make the prototype safely and accurately with a record of making and quality control
F Analysing and evaluating	AO3	20	Test the prototype against the specification and judge it honestly with wider issues in mind

 

Assessment objectives

The NEA assesses AO1 (10% of the GCSE), AO2 (30%) and AO3 (10%). AO4 is assessed in Paper 1 rather than in the NEA. Paper 1 is the 2-hour written exam. It draws on the core technical principles, specialist technical principles and designing and making principles that students begin learning in Year 10.

How you can support your child at home

• Ask which section of the NEA they are on and what they plan to finish this week. A regular conversation about the schedule helps more than checking the work itself.
• Offer to be a sounding board. A client or user giving honest feedback on a design is part of the process.