Updated August 2023 with the official summer 2023 grade boundaries. The 2023 paper is now transferred to the summary sheet as the mock examination results. The 2022 paper is now used for the end of theory assessments. Slight changes to the colour schemes to match the theory pre Updated August 2022 with the official summer 2022 grade boundaries. The 2021 paper is now transferred to the summary sheet as the mock examination results. Update December 2021 with the 2020 and 2021 exam papers. The 2020 paper is now used as the mock and the 2019 is used to test the end of all the 50 individual theory lessons. Updated January 2021 with all the AQA theory mapped over 50 lessons with ongoing assessments. Supporting presentations that match the lessons which are now available!** This enhanced version of the AQA GCSE tracker has been updated to generate comments from the marks awarded. It has the two AQA specimen papers for reference and the 2019 GCSE paper to use as a final test after the theory lessons. The 2020 examination paper is used as a mock exam which will be added to the NEA assessment to give an accurate prediction based on the previous years’s grade boundaries. A PDF guide to using the tracker has now been added to the resource. Please note the Grade Boundary sheet is up to date with the 2019 grade boundaries for both the paper and NEA as of 2021. To use: Simply use the Context sheet to enter all student details including candidate number and attainment target. Use the Comment sheet to award marks for each Assessment Objective and comments will be provided in the boxes for use in CRF’s or reports. Use the Mock sheet to add the marks from the 2020 paper used as a mock exam. Use the Theory sheet to help plan out your weekly lessons to ensure all the theory is covered. You can also use this to keep a track of ongoing assessments and it will show an average. It will also allow you to compare a test paper to the final mock to see if the students have improved. Everything will then be transferred to the front Summary sheet, totals will be generated and levels awarded derived from the existing GCSE boundaries. Old type grades are also provided for reference. All the cells that do not need editing are locked to avoid making mistakes but the sheet can be unlocked with the password ‘gcse’. Updated May 2016 with room for 26 student names and added a pie chart to show percentage of students who were above/below target. More can be added if you are comfortable with editing Excel spreadsheets or simply make additional copies of the spreadsheet for the additional students. If you have less than 26, ensure that there is nothing entered into the A8 column on the context sheet and the pie chart will ignore these when calculating the percentage of students above/below target. Extra sheets for homework and assessments can be tailored to suit your needs and will not affect the Summary sheet or the predicted levels.

UPDATE (August 2023): Updated with the summer 2023 grade boundaries from AQA. All previous past papers are now added with the 2023 paper used for final/mock exams and 2022 paper for end of theory tests. Added a guide to using the tracker with the theory presentation units. !!Please use the 2022 spreadsheet. The previous tracker (2021 ) is just to be used for reference!! UPDATE (August 2022): Updated with the summer 2022 grade boundaries from AQA. UPDATE (September 2021): A new and updated spreadsheet has been added to the resource. This has comment banks from the syllabus which are generated from the marks awarded. UPDATE February 2021): Suitable past paper questions are now added to each section which match the presentation slides that are now available. See product details for how to use these for ongoing assessment in the theoretical aspects of the A Level course. Titles now match those in the AQA Theory presentations. November 2020 grade boundaries have been used in the tracker. This is a comprehensive tracker for AQA A Level Product Design although it could be adapted for other courses/exam boards. If you complete the Student information sheet, all the relevant data will be copied to the corresponding sheets. The same with the Grade boundary sheet which sets last year’s grade boundaries for every aspect of the course. There is an outline for delivering the course theory content spread over 60 lessons which will have supporting presentations at a later date. Teachers can choose the past papers to use for reinforcing learning and these are all mapped to the new content on the Content sheet. For ongoing assessments, put the total score for the question in the top of the column for each lesson or unit and as you complete the score for the student, it will give an average of their results over the year and compare these to their mock results. All this data is copied to the front page where the results from the NEA are added to give an accurate grade prediction based on the previous year’s grade boundaries. There is scope for teachers to tweak this resource to suit but for now, cells that have formula or references are locked to prevent any errors. Each worksheet can be unlocked with the password ‘advanced’.

UPDATE: Added a 33 page PowerPoint guide to using the MEKBOX which covers the use of mechanisms and motion. **PLEASE NOTE: this resource will require access to a laser cutter and (optional) 3D printer to create the parts. ** This resource is aimed at late primary level (late KS2)/secondary level (early KS3) to help teach students about mechanisms and motion. The basic resource consists of six panels that can be stored flat or assembled into a storage box and that click together to form a board to connect mechanisms to. Because the parts need to be laser cut, you can print as many of the different panels as you may need. The 2D parts are supplied in. DXF, .SVG and .AI (Illustrator) for laser cutting so they can be imported into a wide range of applications. Individual parts are also supplied in .DXF form.Please check that you can open or import these formats before purchasing. If using 2D Design and importing DXF, please ensure units are set to mm Included in the files are a relatively simple set of mechanical parts that connect to the board using readily available paper fasteners. There are also a few small 3D printed elements which are optional if you just want to use the flat panels and mechanisms. The optional 3D printed parts are provided in .stl format ready to be imported into your slicing software.

Update: Mark scheme added for the past paper and other questions in the lessons. A set of 15 lessons in editable Powerpoint Show format which cover the teaching of Wood and Timber. Each lesson includes a lesson outcome, introduction, summary of the unit and revision tips as well as links to maths and science and a suggested practical activity. Questions and past paper questions are matched to those in the AQA DT tracker (recently updated) so you can deliver theory as well as assessing knowledge and tracking progress. You only need to cover ONE material group in depth so use this resource with the GCSE theory bundle available separately which covers all of the compulsory learning units.

This workbook support the theory presentations for 3.2 Specialist technical principles with the focus on Timber and wood. Without the theory presentations, the content and questions may not seem as relevant, but they are structured in a way that follows the syllabus. The resource is in PowerPoint format so can be edited to suit, but a PDF version is also supplied.

A collection of the workbooks to support the theory presentations for 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3. The resource consists of workbooks for the compulsory elements 3.1: Core technical principles and 3.3 Designing and making principles. All five 3.2 workbooks are also supplied covering timber and wood, metals and alloys, paper and board, textiles and polymers. This full resource is also included in the Ultimate D&T GCSE Teacher Toolkit.

This resource is designed to teach a range of traditional and modern manufacturing skills which combine to make a desktop ‘gadget’. You may be limited by time or resources and it would be difficult to cover all of these skills in depth during KS3 or even KS4. There are 12 different skills or processes here, but there is the potential for many more to be introduced, incorporated or addressed. They cover: Pewter casting Vacuum forming Marking out wood Shaping and drilling wood Cutting a knuckle joint Forming metal rod Vinyl cutting 3D CAD and 3D printing Cutting a housing joint Threading rod Thermoforming (line bending) Laser cutting Assembling the Skills Bot The resource contains instructions for the whole project as well as individual PDF presentations that can be projected in class or printed as handouts. Also included are individual technical drawings for each components to make class hand outs easier to produce. There is limited design work with this resource, although there are opportunities to customise or personalise some elements. It is intended to cover a range of skills that are commonly used in Design and Technology.

These ‘blank’ workbook templates allow students to take notes as they wish when studying the theory based on the Cornell note taking approach. They include past paper questions from the A Level presentations so students can keep notes and complete prep/homework assignments in the same booklet. Workbooks are provided in both editable PowerPoint and printable PDF formats. Also included are two revision books that summarise or illustrate certain concepts from the theory materials.

UPDATED March 2021 This resource consists of several SketchUp files including exploded versions and orthographic views as well as a textured final model. It could be a practical lesson for students or a practical test for a technician or new teacher. Its makes a box of box joints which then fits into a frame of frame joints. It is also useful as an isometric or 3D drawing exercise or to teach CAD using SketchUP or any other 3D package. NOTE: This will work with SketchUp Make 2017.

A high resolution image providing a simple guide to 20th Century Design History. Certain sections are deliberately blank so that they can be used for students to investigate and add their own details. A completed version will be added shortly at no extra charge. Updated 2020 with more details but still space to add more of your own choice.

This is the first set of supporting resources for the Modular Desk Organiser project. Its is in itself a modular approach to teaching a wide range of skills for Design and Technology ay KS3 including aspects of 2D and 3D drawing, CAD modelling, CAM manufacture and rapid protoyping, orthographic projections, materials (Wood, Polymers, Paper and Card), processes, packaging, scales of production and much more. It could provide a whole year’s worth of work or aspects that you want to cover can be taken from it and added to the design booklet template which is available separately. This set also contains maths and science worksheets which can be used for class work or to set as prep/homework. Several approaches can be taken to using this scheme of work and a range of outcomes is possible. Images of real outcomes are provided for reference and a step by step guide to CAD modelling using SketchUp is also available.

Important update November 2020: The two trackers have been updated to include a suggested time plan for delivering the theory content and mock exams over 51 lessons and assessing after each unit of work. The specialist material choice could be covered in as little as 23 lessons This replaces the Prep page of the previous version and is far more useful. There is space for the teacher to choose a past paper question for each unit, add in the marks and keep an average of the students’ results. They can also take sample papers and compare these to the formal mock exam. these additions make it a more comprehensive document and all cells that don’t need editing are locked. Fill in the context page with details, use the sheets for Paper 1 and Paper 3 as well as the comments sheet and all will be copied to the Overall sheet for easy analysis and feedback. Due to several requests, all the grade boundaries are now unlocked so the document is easier to edit. All relevant links have also been updated. Please re-download the new version. These two trackers cover the A-E grade based iGCSE and the new 9-1 level based iGCSE in Design and Technology. Simply update the context page and the grade boundaries each year to keep this up-to-date and comprehensive. A guide on how to use the trackers is now included.

This Powerpoint show is a self-running presentation to support the GCSE NEA in Design and Technology. It will be included with the exemplar folder resource but it is available here as a stand-alone resource for those who simply want material to help support their teaching of the NEA in the classroom. There are 105 slides, most of which are illustrated with images from my own work and projects. Most of these are taken from the theory presentations. They can be opened from within Powerpoint and edited to suit your teaching.

These two workbooks support the compulsory theory for the AQA GCSE in D&T (8552). These workbooks are designed to match the theory presentations. Without these, the contents and questions in the workbooks may not seem as relevant, but they do address the syllabus criteria. The two workbooks are in PowerPoint format so you can edit them to suit your needs but PDF versions are also included. The resource includes: 3.1: Core Technical Principles (two workbooks)

A free resource for adding feedback to students for practical work/controlled assessment/NEA. It is in a digital format so it can be added to a VLE or online storage for access by student and teacher. The teacher completes the blue and green sections while the student completes the pink section.

A collection of 100 Design and Technology Subject Genius blogs each with a unique illustration published via the TES since 2016. This PDF collects together all of the blogs for easy access along with some additional content. Ideal to expand your reading on the subject or to use for discussion at department and management level. Please note: this now contains two documents, each with 50 illustrated blogs which are no longer available to read on the TES site