Technology

In Technology, students combine practical and technological skills with creative thinking to design and make products and systems that meet human needs.  Over the period of the course, students will learn to think creatively to design and make products intended to improve the quality of life. 

We challenge any notion of gender inequalities and stereotypes in careers in technical and practical subjects such as Engineering, Product Design, Science and Architecture and aim to provide the necessary skills and self-confidence to enable students to apply for a range of career and university courses. 

The Year 7 course is intended to help students make the transition from primary school to the more sophisticated workshop environment of a secondary school.  The emphasis is on workshop practice and the safe and skilled use of tools and equipment.  The types of equipment the students are trained to use are: hand tools – tenon saw, hammers, screwdrivers and hand drills.  Power tools – disc sander, pillar drill, scroll saw, hot-wire bender, and hand-held power drills. 

The current project is designed to introduce the use of tools, equipment and safe workshop procedure in a gradual and progressive manner.  This enables the students to gain confidence and skills of accuracy before progressing to more advanced and powerful machinery. 

Materials introduced; woods – softwood and man-made boards, thermos-plastic polymers and their applications and manipulation (including hotwire bender). 

The project also involves the use of CADCAM to design and program the 3D printer to create a decoration for the product. 

Textiles 

The Year 7 Textiles course includes the following: 

A wide range of practical skills: design development, knowledge of basic textile theory and health and safety, learning through practical demonstrations and examples, following verbal and written instructions.  

The design process in Year 7 involves researching the natural world, taking key shapes from photographic images of nature and creating simple shapes that can be stencilled onto fabric.  They have to consider the scale of shapes (so not all shapes are the same size).  They also scale up their designs, and they consider different ways of creating a pattern repeat across an area of fabric and trial these variations.  Students are not simply drawing a design but have to remember that their design will be applied onto fabric using fabric crayons and brushes. 

Introduction to sewing machine  

Introduction to Health and Safety in Textiles 

Design process 

Stencilling 

Embellishment 

Cushion Construction 

Technology

In Year 8 students have a main project on an Electronic Night-light intended to cover a range of topics. 

This project is designed to introduce students to simple circuit construction and involves soldering to make connections and assemble components to form an LED light-sensitive device that can be used as a night-light and includes designing a suitably themed shade.  Students will have to consider the importance of correct polarity when connecting components, the health and safety implications of soldering and the principles of how a circuit functions. The students use CADCAM to design the decoration that will be engraved using the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine. 

Technical drawing – Students will learn and practice a range of drawing systems, including perspective and isometric to enable them to ‘visualise’ and communicate their design ideas. 

Textiles 

The Year 8 Textiles course includes the following: 

A wide range of practical skills; design development, knowledge of textile theory and revision of Health and Safety, learning through practical demonstrations and examples following verbal and written instructions.   

The design process in Year 8 is different to Year 7.  It involves researching the theme of ‘My Identity and Me’ in order to create design ideas for the decorative elements to their bag.  They apply the decoration to their pocket using the technique of appliqué and have to think about the layering of fabric shapes to achieve the image they want.  They also must consider the scale of their design and have to scale up their final design.  They need to bear in mind that their design will be reversed when applied to their fabric and some students need to reverse it before they cut out the bondaweb (layer of adhesive) and fabric shapes.  They can use a variety of colours of felt fabric to achieve this and can further embellish with decorative components such as embroidery thread, beads, sequins, etc.  Students practise the technique of appliqué before they start the design process.  They are given the opportunity to choose and purchase their own fabric and can make individual design choices regarding the construction of the tote bag, as there are variations they can do according to their ability.  This project is followed by extended work in the summer term, in the form of mini-projects involving construction and embellishment skills that further develop their competence in the subject.  

Revision of sewing machine 

Revision of Health and Safety in Textiles 

Design Process 

Construction of lined tote bag 

Additional items