Design & Technology

D&T Video.mp4

Mr Price - Head of DT

Welcome to Design and Technology

Design and Technology is a practical and valuable subject. It enables you to actively contribute to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of your own life, our community and our nation. It teaches you how to take risks and so become more resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable. You will develop an understanding of the impact of design and technology on daily life and the wider world. Additionally, it provides you with excellent opportunities to develop and apply value judgements of an aesthetic, economic, moral, social, and technical nature both in your own designing and when evaluating the work of others.

When you start at Outwood Academy Easingwold you will have two hours of Design and Technology a week. Over the course of Year 7, you will move around the department completing six projects in different areas of the curriculum with different teachers. The projects that are completed all start with a design brief which you will complete by using knowledge and skills learnt along the way. The projects will typically last for around 6 – 7 weeks and been designed as a vehicle for delivering theory but allowing you to think creatively and develop ideas to the given design briefs.

The six projects that you will complete in Year 7 are:

  • Sweet Tooth (A project linked to Nestle looking at branding, colour theory, packaging of confectionary)

  • The Mad Hatters Tea Party (Introduction into Food and Nutrition inked to the film Alice Adventures in Wonderland)

  • The Woodbot Workshop (A project linked to the film ‘Robots’ introducing students to the tools and equipment in the workshops)

  • The Funky Chicken (A textiles upcycling project that allows students the chance to understand the characteristics of different fabrics.)

  • Pinball Wizard (Students investigate how levers and linkages can be used to design a portable pinball machine)

  • Frequency (Experimenting with how sound travels by designing a passive amplifier to make a mobile phone louder)

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Realising the potential of our students

Our students have a rich and broad curriculum delivered over their time spent in Design and Technology. ln Year 7 the teaching and learning is focused on core materials and technical knowledge. The projects are designed for students to learn about these core materials by creating high quality products familiarising themselves with tools, equipment and procedures along the way.

In Year 8 students at OAE will have two hours of D&T a week which will be split over the different facets of D&T in the form of engaging projects to ensure a broad curriculum is achieved. The key focus in Year 8 is developing design skills / strategies that utilise their technical knowledge from Year 7. The projects are more open and students are encouraged to think innovatively to solve a given design brief / problem.

Students in Year 9 will study one hour of D&T a week where the key focus is on applying their technical knowledge and design skills through STEM related design problems / briefs. Fast paced, short, termly projects are given to students where they are expected to rise to the challenge by exploring possible outcomes using knowledge from Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Year 9 has been designed to give students an idea of the demands and rigour expected from a GCSE in D&T / Engineering.



Design and Technology Facilities

The Design and Technology Faculty at Outwood Academy Easingwold has a full suite of rooms, machinery, tools and equipment that allow students to bring their ideas to life. Our projects have been designed to stretch and challenge our students by thinking creatively and giving them the training and confidence needed to utilise all of the equipment available to them. We are very fortunate to have two fully equipped workshops containing a laser cutter, CNC routers, 3D printers and workshop machinery and hand tools. Students will also have access to our textiles, graphics and electronics room which houses transfer printing equipment, sewing machines, CNC embroidery machines, soldering irons, dye sublimation printing and VEX robotics equipment. The faculty also has a hospitality and catering area where students are taught how to create dishes that are well balanced, nutritious and delicious!

What have our Year 7's been up to?

Year 7 Virtual Tour.mp4