Design and Technology in Year 7

Design Technology is a much-enjoyed subject of the Year Seven students here at MGC. It encompasses a vast array of enjoyable crafts such as making soft toys, salad servers, bag tags and wooden boxes. The special thing about design technology is that we have the flexibility to choose different designs and colours that suit our individual style, or the style of the person we are making it for, as a lot of our projects make great gifts!

Before actually starting to make the item, we go through a lengthy design process that all comes together in a design folio. We get images from the internet that we annotate to get inspiration and an idea of what can be achieved. The next stage is to write up a design brief that describes our client’s likes and dislikes, so we can get an idea of what types of designs would suit them. We start to think about beginning our design for the item and we draw lots of ‘thumbnail’ sketches to experiment with different styles, colours and shapes. Next, we choose two of our best designs and draw them up to full size - we also refine and improve the designs as we draw them. As we reach the end of the design process, we complete a preferred option evaluation to decide on a final design. We document a series of questions and score each design a mark out of 5. We then select the highest scoring design as our final choice. Sometimes, if we are unsure on which design would be best we ask our classmates to vote on the two designs to help us decide. And then, finally, we hand up our folio and it is time for the fun part – bringing our design to life!

Design technology stands out from all the other subjects because we learn so many new skills. For example, this year so far we have learnt to use a piercing saw, sandpaper, files and clamps. We have also learnt many different types of stitches such as the blanket stitch, satin stich, and my favourite – the lazy daisy stitch!

Design technology is such an indispensable subject because there is a great sense of fulfilment about crafting something that is normally manufactured, not only by hand but also by yourself.

By Ellie Bellsmith

7R2

Ancient Civilizations Day

On Aug 15th, MGC celebrated ‘Ancient Civilisations Day’. To mark this day, all year 7 students presented their role plays and research on their allocated ancient civilisation adding their creative flavours. Maris represented ancient Egypt, while Chisolm had ancient China. Melba were researching ancient Greece and Lyons did a great job representing ancient Rome.

To prepare for the day, we started by dressing in our costumes, and putting on our makeup to complete the ancient look. Then we had a couple of last run-throughs with our groups before it officially started.

A teacher informed us about the rules, and then another class was brought in. We showed them our presentation and they had to write down information as they witnessed our performance. After Round One and a break, it was our turn to go to the other classes.

We had loads of fun playing the informative games and eating the delicious prizes! One thing that went well was that we all got to learn new things about other civilisations and visualize the creative perspectives of various groups on different aspects of ancient civilizations, which helped with our essays. For me personally, I think that our group could have been better rehearsed.

The colourful costumes and the spirited girls made the day truly a ‘melting pot of civilisations’

We appreciate the commendable efforts from all teachers who made the day even more splendid!

By Smriti Soni

7R1

Important Dates

September

October