Examination Boards: AQA (GCSE 8552)
Graphic design is an integral part of daily life: it encompasses corporate identity, logo design and branding, packaging, poster design, billboards and T-shirt design, and all other designs on a 2-dimensional plane. Certainly, our world without graphics would be very uninspiring and pretty dull.
Graphics at GCSE is a subject that develops research skills, problem solving, and improves independent learning. Students learn to communicate and work as a team. The practical skills of design, sketching, use of digital media, CAD/CAM, materials and manufacture are introduced and developed.
Our department’s focus is to give students the chance to discover the wonder of Design & Technology with a particular focus on graphics: a good design attracts attention and provides pleasure; good packaging can protect, promote and inspire all at the same time; intelligent design can deliver a powerful message while also making someone’s life easier; sympathetic designs can be a force for good by supporting the need to act in a sustainable way.
In our curriculum we aim to:
- explore design and technology as a whole, to a foundation level
- focus on graphics as a specialism within the subject
- give students confidence to work with different graphics based materials (papers, cards, plastics)
- allow students to discover ways to develop their creativity in order to satisfy the needs of user centred design
- encourage a life-long interest in the subject of design, and a greater appreciation of design decisions that have formed the world around us.
- foster a deeper understanding of sustainability, and the responsibility of the designer in working in ways which will enhance the longevity of the planet, and combat the damage of the past.
D&T Graphics is a popular subject at KS4 because it allows students to work in a different environment, drawing on a spectrum of learning styles, and developing knowledge and skills which can genuinely be applied to make a change in the world. Most of these skills are cross curricular, meaning the can support the learning in other subjects across the school. The department understands the need to embrace traditional hand skills with drawings and the making of prototypes, whist also accesses modern technology by utilising 2D and 3D CAD software and CAM manufacturing machinery. Students who study design and technology can move on to further study within their specialism, or enter into apprenticeships or careers in the plethora of opportunities that are design related both in this country and abroad.
