KS3

Our Curriculum Aims at KS3 for Year 7,8 and 9:

To stimulate and maintain student interest, enjoyment, curiosity and concern about technological aspects of the environment, both local and international in Design and Technology.
To enable students to become familiar with the knowledge, principles, skills and vocabulary of Design and Technology along with a developed knowledge of different categories of materials (smart) and their properties.
To enable students to be confident and competent in “design for purpose” and making quality products which are “fit for purpose”.
To enable students to evaluate and improve upon a design or product as well as considering the needs of the user and evaluating it against specification criteria.
To develop an awareness of the role of Design and Technology in the development of the modern world and emerging new technologies and their impact upon the planet and the human race.
To develop an enjoyment in risk-taking, creativity, innovation and problem solving of technological problems.
To develop the skills which enable students to make reasoned decisions about the implications of technological advances and to apply principles of nutrition and health to improve their lifestyles?
To develop through Design and Technology a range of desirable personal qualities that will enable students to become confident, committed and co-operative members of society.
To reflect and draw upon the work of past and present designers and design movements along with gaining inspiration from other sources such as nature.
To develop a wide technical vocabulary whilst promoting good literacy skills

Key Stage Three Curriculum Overview

Pupils will follow a rotation where they will study the following topics alongside Food and Nutrition for approximately 1/3 of the year which covers HT 1 and 2, HT 3 and 4 and HT 5 and 6 respectively.

YEAR 7

	NAMES OF TOPIC	KEY CONTENT OF THE TOPIC	ASSESSMENT POINTS
HT1	An introduction to electronics:	Soldering PCB Construction Simple transistor circuits Vacuum Forming	FEDS (See Below)
HT2	An introduction to electronics:
HT3	An introduction to mechanisms:	Materials and Processes Manufacturing Techniques Industrial batch production Quality control	FEDS (See Below)
HT4	An introduction to mechanisms:
HT5	Product Design:	Materials and Processes Project Management Iterative Design Modelling	FEDS (See Below)
HT6	Product Design:

YEAR 8

	NAME OF TOPIC	KEY CONTENT OF THE TOPIC	ASSESSMENT POINTS
HT1	Graphics and presentation techniques:	Pencil crayon rendering Packaging Labelling and Advertising Quality Control	FEDS (See Below)
HT2	Graphics and presentation techniques:
HT3	Innovation and Product Design:	Creativity techniques Innovative products Smart materials Iconic designers	FEDS (See Below)
HT4	Innovation and Product Design:
HT5	Structures – Medieval Siege Warfare:	Forces Triangulation Historical manufacturing techniques Siege engine design	FEDS (See Below)
HT6	Structures – Medieval Siege Warfare:

YEAR 9

	NAME OF TOPIC	KEY CONTENT OF THE TOPIC	ASSESSMENT POINTS
HT1	Electronic Systems:	Microcontrollers Software engineering Embedded systems Programming Flowcharts User Centred Design Electronic Products	1-9 GCSE, e-portfolios are graded according to the AQA GCSE mark Scheme
HT2
HT3
HT4	Product Design:	Trigonometry Research techniques Modelling and Iterative Design Development techniques Manufacturing processes Product testing and evaluation	1-9 GCSE, e-portfolios are graded according to the AQA GCSE mark Scheme
HT5
HT6

All projects are marked formally on completion using the FEDS sheets (Year 9 against GCSE grading criteria) and certain aspects are verbally marked at half- way depending on the project in progress. Feedback can be requested verbally at any point in a project or in written form via email or via Microsoft Teams. Feedback will be diagnostic and will be related to the shared learning goals outlined on the subject achievement map for each project. Homework will be set according to the homework policy and will be related to the current project being carried out. Pupils will be expected to self-assess according to the FEDS evidence prior to submitting their final projects for assessment.

What can parents do to support their sons at KS3?

There is a valuable web resource at www.technologystudent.com that provides animations and explanations of the things that are covered in lessons. Updated and useful links can be found on the Design and Technology sections of Sharepoint in Office 365.

More specifically in:

Year 7:
You can use www.printfreegraphpaper.com to generate isometric grid paper to aid your sons sketching.

Year 8:
Visit www.technologystudent.com to assist in the research of structures.

Year 9:
Download the PICAXE editor from https://picaxe.com/getting-started/software-selection/ as this will allow your son to work on his software design at home.

Any code that is generated can be uploaded to O365 and tested in class.

Monitor the work of your son during the Product Design tasks to ensure that work is being completed within the e-portfolio as set out on Satchel One. These projects are designed to run like GCSE courses so that your son can make informed choices at options time. This means that they will be responsible for many of the deadlines and target setting. Please reinforce the importance of meeting deadlines set via Satchel One.

Use the FEDS Descriptors to look at what evidence you should be able to see in the e-portfolios that are being produced.