In Design and Technology at Rooks Heath School, we want all our students to experience a broad and balanced range of Design and Technology subjects, in line with the National Curriculum. Our curriculum encompasses a range of creative and practical activities, linked to key subject knowledge and terminology. It is structured to allow our students to form, build and apply a range of skills covering textiles, polymers, graphics, resistant materials and electronics. The curriculum is designed to be inclusive, and accommodate learners with varied prior experiences and attainment, as our students come from a large range of backgrounds. This is also a key link to our school ethos: ‘Strive to be your best”. Because of the diverse community in our school, we ensure that our lessons are culturally responsive, showcasing exemplar work and practitioners from some of these same backgrounds. This helps to broaden the horizons of our students, by showcasing relevant role-models and highlights the value of differing cultures. It is key to encourage an interest in Design and Technology, due to the rapidly evolving technological world that our students will be entering into when they leave school and enter industry or higher education. 

In Key Stage 3 we focus on introducing our students to a range of materials, knowledge and practical skills. This helps give them a clear understanding of what the subject includes, as for many of them, ours is a new subject upon joining in Year 7. Students experience an hour of Design and Technology per week. In this time frame, we cover all 5 material areas, key core knowledge concepts and design processes and skills. Our curriculum enables students to generate creative design concepts in response to a project brief, and gain inspiration by studying a large range of past and present designers, from a variety of material specialisms, industries and backgrounds. We build key subject skills in Key Stage 3, primarily Year 9, where students opt for Food or DT, to help our students achieve success as they progress to Key Stage 4 and higher. These include the iterative design process, responding to relevant problems and contexts, considering target market requirements, and understanding how products and materials relate to sustainability. Doing this creates greater future opportunities for our students to study Design and Technology to a higher level.