Welcome to Technology.
Within Technology, students can study Creative iMedia, Design Technology and Food and Nutrition. For more detailed information on each specialism please click on the drop down sections below.
Head of Department: Charlie Evans.
Tim Speller is the Lead Teacher for Food and Nutrition and qualified with a BA Hons in International Hospitality Management. His interests include surfing, windsurfing and snowboarding. He is also a BSA qualified surf coach.
Millie Butler-Hiorns is a Design Technology textiles technician. She has a BA in Fashion Textiles specialising in Knitwear. Millie has experience working in different areas of the fashion industry including tailoring, pattern cutting and sustainability. She loves making her own clothes, knitting, crochet, chainmail and much more.
Zoe John is a teacher of DT, specialising in Textiles. She has a BA in Fashion Knitwear, an MA in Sustainable Design and a PhD that combines both. Her interests include reading, gardening, walking and cats.
Laura Pearce is a DT Technician. She holds 25 years experience in product and fine jewellery MA in Jewellery design and craft. Her interests are yoga, music, art. learning Spanish and playing the flute.
Gosia Piotrowicz is the Food and Nutrition Technician.
Iain Richardson, MA (RCA), is a D&T and Creative iMedia teacher with a 25‑year background in graphic design, advertising and creative direction. He has worked with major clients including Apple, Dyson and the BBC, in the UK and overseas, bringing industry‑level creativity into school learning.
Rachael Wood is a Design Technology Teacher and qualified with BA Hons in History of Design. She also has a food hygiene certificate, a windsurfing certificate and has completed the advanced PADI scuba-diving. Her interests include professional cookery and sea-swimming.
CAD/CAM
SStudents will complete the AQA Design Technology course, during the course they will learn about multiple disciplines such as Textile, 3D and Graphics.
Technology makes the world a new place!
SHOSHANA ZU
Studying Design Technology encourages creative thinking and activity. It helps students to develop the cognitive and practical skills involved in problem solving and intelligent decision-making.
Our aim as a department is to make students aware of the world around them and how technology has an impact on the environment and its resources.
Through our teaching we seek to establish an understanding of the principles of design and a personal command of the design process. We will provide experience of the nature and uses of a variety of materials and manufacturing processes.
Students will become aware of the changes occurring in the world today as a result of the technological innovation in the home and at work, whilst encouraging the application of technological understanding to the solving of problems or tasks in order to improve the quality of life.
Design Technology will stimulate the discussion of values of an aesthetic, technical, economical and moral nature. Through the curriculum we will help to emphasise the integrated nature of Design and Technology and its strong links with other subject areas.
Graphic Design enables students to develop products using a range of graphic and modelling materials and new technologies.
Studying Graphic Design teaches you to use the specialist skills you have learnt to high standards. You will be able to analyse and appraise your own work, discuss the work of other designers and artists using subject specific vocabulary and you will be able to use diversity and variety in your thinking. A Graphic Design qualification can lead to many career paths, varying from illustration to visual merchandising to graphic design for print and web publications.
In Year 7 you will get to grips with the basics of Graphic Design. You will develop your drawing skills and your understanding of graphic design principles. You will learn how to research for your project and to let that research influence your final product.
In Year 8 you will gain a greater knowledge of the role of CAD in Graphic Design. Computer based designing will create the basis for a project in which you use CAD and CAM to create and manufacture a product which meets a set brief.
If you study Graphic Design at GCSE level you will broaden your knowledge to include typography, illustration and printing processes. There is a wider use of CAD and CAM usage at GCSE. You will be given a brief and you will work to create imaginative coursework and products.
Resistant Materials Technology is the design and making of products using a range of materials such as wood, metals and plastics. Students will be encouraged to incorporate new technologies in the production of their products.
Resistant Materials helps make students aware of the world around them and how technology has an impact on the environment and its resources.
In Year 7 students will learn to use a vacuum former, workshop machinery and hand tools. The new knowledge of these tools will be used to create a project from multiple materials.
In Year 8 students will carry through what was learned in Year 7 to improve their making skills. The project in Year 8 will concentrate on using metal.
Studying Resistant Materials at GCSE involves using a wider variety of machinery, including the lathe for wood and metal. Students will also be proficient in the use of more specific hand tools. Working to a set brief students are encouraged to make the most original work they can.
Textiles Technology at secondary level is a creative, practical subject where students learn through designing and making. It builds a strong foundation in working with a range of materials, tools and processes, giving students the confidence to move from initial ideas through to realised outcomes. Students explore how textile products are designed and constructed, while also considering sustainability and material choices. Digital tools sit alongside traditional techniques, reflecting contemporary textile practice.
Textiles offers the opportunity to develop both creative and technical skills. Students learn to respond to a design brief, generate and refine ideas, and work with increasing independence. Alongside practical making, they build resilience on the sewing machine, problem-solving skills, and attention to detail, as well as the confidence to take creative risks and develop their own ideas.
In Year 7, the focus is on building core knowledge and confidence in basic construction. Students learn to safely and accurately use the sewing machine, developing control and independence. They are introduced to fibre and material origins, as well as simple embellishment techniques. These foundational skills are applied through a structured project that allows students to practise and embed essential making skills.
In Year 8, students build on this foundation by exploring a wider range of surface design techniques, particularly print methods. They further develop their understanding of 3D construction and structure, and begin to work more precisely using pattern templates. Key concepts such as seam allowance, accuracy and assembly are reinforced, supporting a more refined approach to making. Alongside this, students develop their theoretical understanding of fabric construction, exploring how textiles are made and how these structures influence the properties and performance of materials.
At GCSE level, building on the foundational knowledge developed in Key Stage 3, students deepen their understanding of textile construction and explore a broader range of embellishment methods. They work with greater independence in response to design contexts, using commercial patterns and developing a stronger focus on accuracy, fit and finish. This enables them to produce high-quality outcomes that reflect both technical skill and personal creativity.
Food & Nutrition is about accessing all of the curriculum through a journey of food. Every child can improve their whole life through a love and understanding of the importance of food.
There is no sincerer love, than the love of Food.
George Barnard - Shaw
Food & Nutrition will give you skills for a professional career in food nutrition, sports nutrition and product development. Food and cooking are skills for successful living through all of your life. Food brings quality of life to you and all your current and future family.
In Year 7 you will learn five key cooking skills used in professional kitchens. The nutritive value of food and a balanced diet are key areas of study, too.
In Year 8 you will learn how to cook international cultural cuisine from scratch, investigating current issues facing food and cooking today.
In GCSE Food and Nutrition you will learn how to plan and prepare nutritionally balance multi cultural food from scratch for particular target consumer groups. One large coursework project is worked on in Year 10. An exam is sat in Year 11.
There are regular opportunities to cater for in-house events and competitions.
Graphic Design is central to modern communication, defining how information is presented and understood across today’s digital landscape. Our Creative iMedia course introduces students to branding, advertising, comic art and the wider media industry, building both technical confidence and creative fluency. As more products, services and ideas are produced digitally, the UK economy increasingly depends on a workforce that is both visually and technologically literate. Creative iMedia equips students with specific and transferable skills, providing a strong foundation for future employment or progression into higher education.
