The Commonweal School

Design and Technology

Department ethos:–
The Design Technology department has two workshops with facilities for wood, metal and plastic work, it also has a third room designed for use in Graphic Products. Throughout their time in DT pupils will have the opportunity to work with a wide range of materials in a variety of projects. The department has its own suite of computers with a number of Computer Aided Design and Modelling programs installed. The computers are linked to a range of Computer Aided Manufacturing machinery, giving students knowledge and experience of up to date technology. Pupils are offered two choices at key stage 4, Product Design or Graphic Products. In both options students complete a series of mini-tasks that introduce new skills and develop those learnt at Key Stage 3. During the second part of the course students identify a design challenge of their own, and carry out research, design and development to produce a solution for this problem and then manufacture this solution. All work is expected to be of an extremely high standard.

Supporting the school’s specialism:-
The DT department supports the school’s designation as a performing arts college through both key stages who take part in numerous group discussions and peer evaluations throughout the DT projects.

Links to outside agencies:-
Every week there is a DT Card and Scrapbook club which all of key stage 3 are invited to attend. Pupils get to experiment with a range of card and paper and produce items that can be taken home.

During the G.C.S.E. Graphic Products course all pupils take part in a nationwide design competition with a wide range of prizes and acknowledgements. The competition is run by nationwide company ‘Print it’ in association with Fair-trade.

The department is also involved in the key stage 2-3 transition, inviting pupils from year 6 to take part in DT projects to give them a small taster of DT at Commonweal.

Department successes:-
The department has had a very successful year in terms of G.C.S.E. results. Both the Resistant Materials and Graphic Product classes achieved a 70% A* - C pass rate.

Useful web addresses:-