The range of products produced by the Design and Technology Department continues to impress with the creative and skilful staff pushing pupils onto still bigger and better projects. This was all plain to see at this years’ coursework exhibition, which was brought into the department for the first time and remained open up till speech day. Projects included a range of both indoor and outdoor oak furniture, drinks cabinets, safari inspired suits and party wear; the excellent quality of finish was commented on by all who attended.

With Miss Kaja and Mr McKegney now well established after two year’s, their influence was plain to see not only in the pupils products, but also in their supporting design work. In Resistant Materials it is mainly due to the presentation skills course Mr McKegney has developed. This has not only helped pupils with drawing techniques, but also develops their imagination and expand their design influences, leading to many A-Level quality design sheets being produced by this years very capable GCSE classes. With 60% of the GCSE weighted on the coursework itself and roughly half of that in their paper work, all this ground work has without doubt, given this years class the best chance to achieve the top grades in the summer.

Another first, this time from Miss Kaja, has been a fashion show in addition to the coursework exhibition. This was produced in aid of Cancer Research UK and presented by the pupils in the Autumn term with some leavers returning to see their designs modelled. It was a very slick presentation with the help of Miss Hubbard and the audience were not only treated to shows from the 5th form, L6th and U6th, but also an explanation of the work that goes into the design and manufacture of textiles technology products.

The last two years has also seen a bumper crop of excellent exam results. At GCSE level we have produced the best results for at least ten years with Textiles producing 100% A* to A and Resistant Materials producing 36 then 33% A*s. At A-level the department continues to get the best out of each pupil and has produced some of the leading value added scores in College. Last year also saw a 100% A* to B percentage for Textiles Technology and our first A* in Resistant Materials Technology (RM) from Joss Cheli (L). This year RM gained 78% A* to B and Textiles was again strong.

As well as our usual trips to London this last year James Lambert (L) went to Portugal for 5 days representing CREST in a European Science and Technology competition. The pinnacle of what has been a very successful time at College and seen his innovative Christmas tree design win prizes at the highest level. We wish him well in his future studies.