Activity planning

When you begin to discuss the Week's activity with your designer you may want to consider these questions:

• How much time are they able to give?
• Which dates suit us both?
• Do special timetable arrangements need to be made so students can work with their designer for a sustained period?
• Can the designer show an example of a project they have worked on?
• Can the designer show some examples of designs from their particular field?
• What are my hopes and expectations of this partnership?
• What knowledge and skills do I want my students to acquire?
• What knowledge and skills do I want to acquire?
• What will the school provide? What will the designer provide?
• What space is required?
• Is there an opportunity for future contact?
• What are the best ways of contacting each other - home phone, work phone, mobile phone, email?

 
If National Design & Technology Week (20-24 June 2005) is not suitable please feel free to choose a more convenient date, as close to the official Week as possible.

In previous years some designers visited the school before the Week to brief the students, while many schools and designers who had planned large projects continued working on them afterwards, in some cases into the autumn term.

The Design Council does not fund individual activities, however in previous years many schools and designers have approached local businesses to provide resources for their activities. This resulted, for example, in one school receiving free architectural software from a specialist company, while another secured the use of a local gallery to exhibit students' work.