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Design & Technology

Purpose of study

Design and technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. They acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. Pupils learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.

Aims

The national curriculum for design and technology aims to ensure that all pupils:

develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users
critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook

Attainment targets

By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.

Subject content

Key stage 1

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, pupils should be taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. They should work in a range of relevant contexts [for example, the home and school, gardens and playgrounds, the local community, industry and the wider environment].

When designing and making, pupils should be taught to:

Design

design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria
generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mock-ups and, where appropriate, information and communication technology

Make

select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing]
select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics

Evaluate

explore and evaluate a range of existing products
evaluate their ideas and products against design criteria

Technical knowledge

build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable
explore and use mechanisms [for example, levers, sliders, wheels and axles] in their products

Key stage 2

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, pupils should be taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. They should work in a range of relevant contexts [for example, the home, school, leisure, culture, enterprise, industry and the wider environment].

When designing and making, pupils should be taught to:

Design

use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups
generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design

Make

select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately
select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities

Evaluate

investigate and analyse a range of existing products
evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work
understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world

Technical knowledge

apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures
understand and use mechanical systems in their products [for example, gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages]
understand and use electrical systems in their products [for example, series circuits incorporating switches, bulbs, buzzers and motors]
apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products

Year 4: Design, make and evaluate a nightlight for a younger child.

We worked hard to make our night lights suitable for the end user. See some of videos below describing how we made them.

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Year 1: Design, make and evaluate a healthy fruit salad.

After designing our fruit salads, we worked with the Katie the chef to use our skills to prepare them. They were very tasty!

Year 6: Design, make and evaluate a sustainable home for a family to live in.

We submitted our entries for Liverpool's House of the Future Competition. We have been working hard to design a home full of sustainable features for a specific family to live in. Next we will make our models.

Year 4: Investigating how electrical circuits work.

To begin our new DT project we researched electricity, its uses and how it works. We built electric circuits to light up light bulbs. This will come in useful when designing out nightlights.

Year 5: Design, make and Evaluate a decoration to be sold at our Christmas craft fair.

In Year 5, we have been busy developing their sewing skills. We learnt new stitches such as overcast stitch and hemming stitch. We also needed to use our pattern making skills to plan and make our decorations.

Year 1: Design, make and evaluate a fruit salad to encourage children to eat more healthily.

We have been learning to prepare fruit safely. We have been practising skills such as slicing, cutting, grating and peeling. We also got to taste all of the delicious fruit.

Year 1: Design, make and evaluate a fruit salad to encourage children to eat more healthily.

We went on a fruit hunt! we had to identify and name a wide variety of fruits.

Year 3: Healthy Dips

Year 1: Wheels and Axles

Year 1 have been designing, creating and evaluating wheelie toys. We started by researching existing products that have wheels. then we designed our own and built our wheels and axles. Finally we decorated our toys to make them appealing to younger children.

Year 2 Masks.

Year two researched and designed masks to be used by children in their class reading corner. They used glue and sewing to add detail and decoration to their designs and had to make sure that they had created a way to wear the Mask.

Year 5 Advent Calendars.

The children have worked really hard to complete making their fabric Advent calendars. They used different techniques such as sewing, stapling, pinning and gluing to join fabrics to complete their designs.

Cookery

This half term, the children have been taking part in cookery lessons. So far they have made pasta, cookies and chicken fajitas

Year 1, Mechanisms.

Year 1 evaluated, researched, designed and constructed their own Christmas cards that have moving parts.

Year 5 Textiles Project.

To start their project, year 5 evaluated different existing textile products. They also had a go at dismantling some bags to they could see the different fabric patterns used.

Year 4 Bendy Bags

Year 4 have been researching and evaluating existing 3D textile products to help them with their own bag designs.

Apple Crumble

Year 4 enjoyed making apple crumble.

Biscuits

This week in Year 2's cookery lessons we have been cooking and decorating our own biscuits. We focused on the properties of the ingredients we were using.

Chocolate Croissants

This week in Year 2, we began our cookery lessons. We started by speaking about how important hygiene is when cooking. We used hairnets to ensure none of our hair made its way into our food. We also wore aprons so our food would not get contaminated and made sure to wash our hands before we started.

Mechanisms/Moving Parts

For our DT project we are going to create dioramas that tell the stories of some Greek myths. We began by researching books that have moving parts. We considered what worked well and what we could improve in our own designs. We researched Greek myths and planned which story we wanted to tell. Next we sketched our designs and considered how we could make parts move. After that we made prototypes of our chosen mechanisms. Finally we tested different paint techniques and practised using the water colours. To build our dioramas we used old shoe boxes and cardboard. We created our setting by painting a background. Once the scene was set we used cardboard to build extra scenery such as trees and gates. We used other materials to add extra details. Finally we attached our mechanisms using split pins.

Islamic Patterns

The Year 5 children have been busy planning and making cushions using their own Islamic patterns. Once the children had designed their own Islamic patterns, they used fabric paint to transfer their patterns onto material. The children have been learning a variety of stitches to use on their cushions and have shown much resilience in order to learn this very difficult skill. The finished cushions looks fantastic and the children are very proud of what they have accomplished.

Jam Tarts

The children are currently participating in cookery lessons provided by our school cook. During this lesson, the children learnt how to make jam tarts and they all looked delicious!

African Bags

This week Year 2 have been completing our own DT project - African Bags. We started by evaluating African patterns and we then used these as inspiration to design our own. We used paper to create prototype bags to see where and how we would join our materials. We also used felt paper to practise stitching. We transferred our patterns onto polystyrene and used printing ink to create our patterns on our material. Once we had cut the exact material from our templates we sewed our bags together

Gas Masks

Year 4 worked hard creating their own gas mask and box, replicating the children of WW2.

William Morris Textiles Project

Year 3 researched the work of Victorian artist William Morris and used his designs as inspiration when creating their own. We then transferred our designs to patterned fabrics and stitched them together to create a class wall hanging.

Stone Age Home Models

We used the materials we collected to design and build some Stone Age homes. We used nets to create Mesolithic, Neolithic and paleolithic houses. Our finished home models looked brilliant as you can see below.