Mr Williams           Director of Learning for D&T

Mrs Kowal             AST and Subject Leader for Food Technology

Mrs Devgun          Subject Leader for Textiles (and teacher of all areas)

Ms Hellier              Child Development KS4

Mrs Lewis             KS3 (all areas)

Mr Hurr                   KS3 Teacher (RM & Textiles)

Mrs Brandon         D&T Technician

Mrs Bright              D&T Technician

Mr Colledge          D&T Technician

At Harris, we have new purpose built facilities, which is equipped with a new suite of computers dedicated for CAD/CAM, research and designing. This includes Corel Suite 11, Pro-Desktop, Nutrients, Yenka and computer control Software. The department is equipped with;

• Students Exhibition Area
• One Food Technology room
• One IT suite with Laser Cutter
• One Textiles room
• Two Resistant Materials workshops with CNC router / CNC Milling Machine  
• Systems control with computer access (computer control / Vinyl cutting)

At the moment students in years 7 and 8 receive 2 hours of Design and technology a week (with the year split between Food and Textiles, Resistant Materials, Graphics and Electronics)

The emphasis of the course at KS3 is to develop students' skills in the core areas of Design & Technology which include, Exploring Ideas and the Task, Generating Ideas, Developing and Modelling Ideas, Planning, Making and Evaluating. This will generally involve students working through a design process, looking at designing products for themselves, clients or markets, carrying out research into existing products, materials, manufacturing methods etc… This will lead students to generate and develop a range of design proposals, making the final design and evaluating it against a specification.

At KS4 Students can currently opt for Graphic Products, Food Technology and Child Development.  New areas are being developed for September 2009 - including Catering and Hospitality and Product Design.

Key Stage 3

• This is compulsory for all pupils from Year 7 to Year 9
• All elements of the curriculum are delivered over the Key Stage with emphasis on the practical application of knowledge learnt.
• In Resistant Materials, particular emphasis is given to the major systems' areas: electronic control, mechanical control, and computer control.
• All of the above elements are delivered through individual units of work which emphasize the good practice of following the 5 strands; Planning, Research,Designing, Making and Evaluating.
• By Year 10 all pupils will be in a much better position to decide whether or not to choose D&T options at GCSE.

Key Stage 4

Pupils may choose to study GCSE level in Years 10 and 11. The course is a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical coursework elements with an assessment weighting of 60% for coursework and 40% for theory.

Our aim is to develop the following skills at GCSE :

• Ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines;
• Good planning and organization;
• Good judgment and reasoning;
• Ability to work independently;
• Ability to work and co-operate with others;
• Numeracy;
• Literacy;
• Communication - written, spoken and graphical.

Within the Design & Technology Department, our teaching focuses on practical tasks and excellence of presentation. Assignments offer students the challenge of both designing and making products, thus fulfilling our aim of always providing hands-on practical experience. Group discussions and analysis are also a valued element in teaching and learning at Harris.

The Department has a popular lunchtime Design Club. We also offer additional support to KS3 and GCSE classes.

We aim to offer our pupils as many opportunities as possible to broaden their horizons in Design and Technology.  (refer to Event section).