Key Stage 4

Food, Textiles, Resistant Materials and Graphics all come under the suite of Design and Technology. They are all very similar in their format, the main difference being the materials which the students work with.

The GCSE course is 40% written exam which is completed at the end of Year 10 and 60% controlled assessment which is completed in Year 11.

Year 10

In Year 10 students are building on the skills developed in key stage 3. They produce a folder of work which will support them in their exam which is sat at the end of Year 10, this mark is 40% of the total GCSE mark.
Within the area they are studying, students will be making a range of prducts in order to develop a diverse range of techniques that they can use in Year 11. Much of the time in Year 10 is spent carrying out practical work however this work is always supported with design and written work in order to equip students with the exam knowledge. In addition teachers will offer students plenty of opportunity to develop exam techniques through practice papers and revision stratergies.
The main areas of study in Year 10 include:

Materilas and components
Design and market influences
Processes and manufacture

Year 11

Information about the controlled assessments

A controlled assessment has taken the place of coursework and involves completing a 'Design and Make' task set by the exam board (AQA) within a set number of hours.
The time a student should spend on a controlled assessment task is approximately 45 hours and it is worth 90 marks (60% of total marks).
The purpose of the task is to see how well the students can bring together all of their skills and knowledge to produce a final product.
Students must work individually under the supervision of a teacher. The teacher can review the work and give general feedback but all the work must be the students own.
The teacher will mark the students work using the guidelines form the exam board and then at the end a moderator from the exam board will review these marks to check they are fair.