We offer Design Technology, Food Technology and Hair & Beauty.
Qualification: GCSE
Exam Board: AQA
Whilst studying this subject you will build innovative design skills, explore, create and evaluate a range of outcomes. Design Technology enables you to use your creativity and imagination to design and make prototypes that solve real and relevant problems, considering your own and others’ needs, wants and values. Creative design and making is at the heart of what you will do, you should enjoy communicating through drawing and be passionate about problem solving. You will learn how to take design risks, helping you to become resourceful, innovative and enterprising. Design Technology gives you opportunities to apply knowledge from other disciplines, including mathematics, science, art and design and computing. You will develop an awareness of practices from the creative, engineering and manufacturing industries.
You will follow a structure of a lesson each of theory, project work and NEA every week.
The course has two components:
Component 1: Written examination: 2 Hours, 50% of the qualification, 100 marks.
Section A – Core technical principles (20 marks)
A mixture of multiple choice and short answer questions assessing a breadth of technical knowledge and understanding.
Section B – Specialist technical principles (30 marks) Several short answer questions (2–5 marks) and one extended response to assess a more in-depth knowledge of technical principles.
Section C – Designing and making principles (50 marks) A mixture of short answer and extended response questions.
In addition:
Component 2: Non-examined assessment, 50% of the qualification, 100 marks.
Content overview
You will undertake a project based on a contextual challenge released by the exam board.
There are four parts to the assessment:
A GCSE DT qualification forms part of a career path leading to further technical, creative or academic product design qualifications, for example A Level Product Design.
Not only does this course give students experience in designing and making in new exciting way, it opens up a range of possibilities on leaving school in careers such as: Architecture, Advertising, Fashion Design, Graphic Designer, Web Design, Typographer, Interior Design, Jeweller, Ceramicist, Product Engineer, Furniture Designer, Packaging, Communications, Film, Software, Transport, Product Engineering, Landscape designer, etc.
The subject gives students a firm grounding in the skills of creativity problem-solving, communication and ICT which would apply to all careers.
https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/design-and-technology/specifications/AQA-8552-SP-2017.PDF
Food Preparation and Nutrition aims to equip you with the knowledge, understanding and skills required to cook and apply the principles of food science, nutrition and healthy eating. The OCR qualification will enable you to cook and make informed decisions about a wide range of further learning, opportunities and career pathways as well as develop life skills that enable you to feed yourself and others affordably, now and in later life. You will develop practical cookery skills and techniques as they explore the underlying principles of food science, nutrition, food traditions and food safety. This qualification aims to bring about real sustainable change; it is relevant to the world of food today.
Assessment overview
Food preparation and nutrition Written Exam 1 hour 30 minutes (50% of GCSE)
Food investigation task NEA 1 (15% of GCSE)
Food preparation task NEA 2 (35% of GCSE
Content overview
All content is covered in all components. There are four sections.
Section A: Nutrition
The relationship between diet and health
Nutritional and dietary needs of different groups of people
Nutritional needs when selecting recipes for different groups of people
Energy balance
Protein
Fat
Carbohydrate
Vitamins
Minerals
Water
Nutritional content of the main commodity groups
Section B: Food (food provenance and food choice)
Food provenance: source and supply
Food processing and production
Food security
Technological developments to support better health and food production
Development of culinary traditions (students study British cuisine and a minimum of two international cuisines)
Factors influencing food choice
Section C: Cooking and food preparation
Food science
Sensory properties
Food safety
Section D: Skills requirements (preparation and cooking techniques)
Knife skills
Preparation and techniques
Cooking methods
Sauces
Set a mixture
Raising agents
Dough
Judge and manipulate sensory properties
This forms part of a progressive career path leading to further technical or academic food and nutrition related qualifications.
Link to specification
A GCSE DT qualification forms part of a progressive career path leading to further technical, creative or academic product design qualifications.
Not only does this course give students outstanding experience in designing and making in new exciting way, it opens up a range of possibilities on leaving school in careers such as:
Architecture, Advertising, Fashion Design, Graphic Designer, Web Design, Typographer, Interior Design, Jeweller, Ceramicist, Product Engineer, Furniture Designer, Packaging, Communications, Film, Software, Transport, Product Engineering, Landscape designer, etc.
The subject gives students a firm grounding in the skills of creativity problem-solving, communication and ICT which would apply to all careers. In a time when employers look for people who can add value, this is the subject that could give students their USP.
The aim of the course is to encourage students to take a broad view of design and technology, to develop their capacity to design and make products and to appreciate the complex relations between design, materials, manufacture and marketing.