Food & Nutrition

Food Technology is both a practical and academic subject. It provides our young people with the opportunity to actively respond to class based projects with creativity and rationality. Food Technology teaches our children how to make important decisions in selecting healthy and sustainable options and how to become more resourceful in creating healthy meals for themselves and their families. Our learners also develop a critical understanding of the impact of wise shopping and meal planning in daily life and the wider world. Food Technology delivers excellent opportunities for our learners to develop and apply judgements in relation to aesthetics, economic, moral, and of a social nature, in both their own designing and when evaluating the work of others.

Sequence

There are 6 units covered across the 3 years of Key stage 3, two units in each year as part of a rotation of 7-8 weeks with 3 other subject areas from the school curriculum. Each unit has a practical task to complete either a model or a final prototype.  Year 7s have the opportunity to make a product for themselves to take home.  At the end of each unit learners will complete an assessment test which comprises a knowledge multiple choice test and a written test, where their knowledge and understanding is secured. 

In Year 7 Design and Technology begins with Problem Solving.  This unit gives the learners an understanding of how a design problem is solved. It demonstrates the use of the iterative design process to develop design ideas from conception to the final product. The second unit, Mechanical systems and movement gives learners an insight as to how products work in their everyday lives. They also have an understanding that there is a link between science and mathematics in design and technology. Both units introduce learners to the workshop where they are able to use some of the tools and equipment for the first time. They are also taught the importance of following the health and safety process at this stage.

As the learners move up into Year 8 the focus is on sketching, modelling and iterative design. Learners learn basic drawing skills which enable them sketch ideas from “2D drawings to 3D models. Learners generate a range of ideas through sketching modelling, testing and evaluating.

In Year 9 the focus is improving their designing skills by generating ideas inspired by nature. The first unit ‘Functionality and Aesthetics’ aims to show learners the link between function and form. The second unit in Year 9, ‘Making a prototype’ is a continuation of the first unit. Learners make design choices and create a list of instructions to make final prototype using sustainable materials.

A knowledge organiser is an important document that lists the important facts that learners should know by the end of a unit of work. It is important that learners can recall these facts easily, so that when they are answering challenging questions in their assessments and GCSE and A-Level exams, they are not wasting precious time in exams focusing on remembering simple facts, but making complex arguments, and calculations.

We encourage all pupils to use them by doing the following:

• Quiz themselves at home, using the read, write, cover, check method.
• Practise spelling key vocabulary
• Further researching people, events and processes most relevant to the unit.