Our Lady's Catholic High School : Our Lady's Catholic High School

I am Alan O’Donohoe and I am responsible for Systems and Control at Our Lady’s Catholic High School in Preston. I also teach ICT.

The school is an 11 – 16 comprehensive, with specialist status in Mathematics and Computing. We have a large catchment area and the background and attainment of the pupils is very varied.

There are five design and technology staff at the school and we offer Food Technology, Textiles, Resistant Materials, Graphic Products and Systems and Control at GCSE. Throughout KS3 the pupils have two one hour lessons of design and technology each week. We organise on a carrousel basis with five units per year and six weeks for each unit.

There is one unit of systems and control, with a time allocation of 12 hours, in each of Y7, Y8 and Y9. We are aware of the problems for continuity and in developing an ongoing relationship with pupils with the carrousel system; we use it because of the specialist expertise of staff. We have explored many different alternatives to using the carousel, and are still actively looking for a solution. However, for the moment it fits the timetable.