Fairfield High School for Girls

Introduction

By the time the current Year 7 leave for work or higher education the up to date Technology we have now in the Department will most probably be obsolete or superseded by other exciting and innovative techniques and processes. So why include Design Technology in the curriculum? Everyone has had to accept Technological change, work with it and be creative with it. It is that flexibility and confidence to get the most out of it, that we are giving the girls along with skills in a variety of media for use in the home or at work. Issues such as sustainable products, global warming, landfill and cultural considerations all form a part of designing and making in today's society and will become more important in the future.

We want girls to be open to new ideas but also to be able to analyse products and processes to enable them to make informed choices, with the creativity to adapt and problem solve for themselves.

Although women form about 50% of the workforce, only a fraction of them actually embark on careers in engineering, architecture, designing or become entrepreneurs. We see it as one of our roles to encourage pupils to consider these careers as viable options and ones in which they can excel. There are pictures of 4 successful women on this page. Do you know who they are and what they do or did?

Women in Business

You will notice that Business forms a part of the Department and that is not by accident. Business is an important element in the Department and has been integral in the way the Department has developed at Fairfield. Business relies on Technology to develop the ideas and materials to meet consumer wants and without Business, Technology would not be able to develop, finance or market their products and ideas. With this in mind all Key Stage 3 pupils are allocated modules in Business Technology in Years 7, 8 and 9 with some basic elements of Business taught within the overall Design Technology Curriculum.

The Department believes that Business and Technology are firmly inter-linked, and that one cannot survive without the other. We are unique in offering this subject within this area and feel that the inclusion of Business is important to pupils understanding of how the two areas are mutually supportive in industry.

Key Stage 3

Topics:

• Food Technology
• Product Design
• Textiles technology
• Electronic Systems and Control
• Graphics
• Business Technology

These areas are taught as 5 modules with different aspects of graphics being taught within each area

Key Stage 4

The following options are offered to pupils at the end of Year 9

• GCSE Business Studies
• GCSE Art & Design
• GCSE Food Technology
• GCSE Electronic Products
• GCSE Product Design
• GCSE Graphic Products
• BTEC Art & Design
• BTEC Engineering
• Business OCR National (Soon to be Business Cambridge National)