About 14-19 | Glossary | Publications | Links | What's new? | Site map

This high-achieving school is committed to retaining a wide range of design and technology courses in its core curriculum at key stage 4.

About the school

Painsley Catholic High School is an 11–18 school with 1,100 students on roll and 200 in the sixth form. It serves parts of rural Staffordshire and part of Stoke-on-Trent. The school has trebled in size during the last 10 years, resulting in substantial new building. It has a below average proportion of students with special educational needs. The school has received DfES achievement awards for the last two years for its success in national examinations.

The design and technology entitlement area

Currently the school offers a full range of design and technology provision to which all students have access. GCSE courses offered are systems and control, food technology, textiles technology, graphic products and resistant materials.

The design and technology provision at key stage 4 is within the compulsory core alongside English, maths and science. Students also study art and design, a modern foreign language and a subject from the humanities.

Design and technology courses at key stage 4

The curriculum is organised around a fortnightly timetable. There are currently five periods per fortnight allocated to design and technology in key stage 4. In all of the design and technology entitlement areas students are arranged in broad mixed-ability groups, with a wide spectrum of ability in each GCSE group. Over the past five years there have been two GCSE groups in every material area including systems and control.

The GCSE specification provides the outline for the coursework and objectives, and approaches are tailored to fit the needs and aspirations of students. The department adopts an individual approach to student support and needs are tackled on an individual basis. Students are counselled at regular intervals and individual feedback is given on progress and the next stages in their coursework development.

Systems and control course

The structure of the key stage 3 course is designed for smooth transition into the entitlement area at key stage 4. It is designed around a number of units of work; in the electronics strand these are designed to give students an insight into the range of electronic applications and the versatility of electronic control. During key stage 3 students also get experience of using peripheral interface controller (PIC) systems to control external devices and this is built on in key stage 4.

There is an active young engineers (YE) group and students are encouraged through the YE activities to pursue the systems and control option at GCSE.

Students following the GCSE systems and control course (AQA) take an experiential approach to design and technology. A number of extended ‘focused tasks’ form the basis of the year 10 course. Activities and experiences are designed so that students cover a number of basic electronic sub-systems and mechanisms to give a good grounding for their later major project. The school has opted for the ‘further electronics’ and micro processor control option. Much of the work in year 10 is based on PIC systems and most students choose this means of control in their approaches to their main project in year 11.

Students are encouraged to make design decisions along the way, to develop independent thinking and planning skills, refining choices and customising the products being made. The assessment objectives are made available to the students and discussed with them at regular intervals.

Resources

Digital cameras are used by staff and students to record the development of their design ideas. Students use these images to record progress and capture ephemeral evidence. This is especially useful when design ideas change quickly at the modelling stage of development. Here students record their progress and ideas so that they have a record of how the design changes over time in the light of trials.

Students use appropriate ICT packages to design, develop, test and modify their work as they progress. The department has a small computer suite integral to the suite of teaching rooms. Computers are used to introduce new software. Students are able to use the computers on an ad hoc basis. The department uses computer-aided manufacture (CAM) equipment to manufacture some parts of the product. The use of computer-aided design (CAD) and CAM are seen by the department as a means of improving the quality of the finished product.

Post 16, the school offers AS and A2 courses in product design. These are delivered in a sixth form centre run jointly by the two schools in Cheadle. Although the majority of post-16 students come from Painsley High School, the teaching is shared between the two schools.

Evaluation and future developments

The school is committed to offering design and technology to all key stage 4 students. The changes to the key stage 4 curriculum from September 2004 have not altered the provision, as the school believes that the experiences students have in design and technology are a valid and valuable part of their social and academic development.

curriculum: 11-16 schools | 6th form schools | colleges
qualifications | the exams process | developments | higher education | home
help | contact us | search

Page updated: 12 June 2008
Terms and conditions
Access Key enabled