Our Design and Technology department offers every student the opportunity to solve problems creatively and equip them with a range of knowledge and skills in preparation for our rapidly changing technological world.

Students in an inspiring and interactive environment will together use their creativity, imagination and practical skills to design and innovate products that will solve real and relevant problems.

Our aims of the teaching and study of Design and Technology are to encourage and enable students to:

1. Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.
2. Build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users.
3. Critique, evaluate and test their ideas, products and work of others.
4. Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.

During the teaching of Design and Technology a wide range of new skills will be acquired. Through the evaluation of past and present design, the students will develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world; gaining an appreciation that is an ongoing cycle of evaluation and re-invention.

The Design and Technology curriculum at Co-op Academy Swinton is built around four goals for life-long learning. These four goals for understanding are:

• What is technology in today’s society?
  The relevance and uses of technology in everyday life and industry.

• What are the skills and processes used in technology?
  How ideas come to life and designs are developed into products and prototypes.

• How designers work?
  How real Designers and those in industry-based careers work in the real world.

• Materials and their properties
  How materials and processes, change, develop and can be used to impact our everyday life.