Design & Technology

Intent

The design and technology projects at Barnsole are well sequenced to provide a coherent subject scheme that develops children’s designing, planning, making and evaluating skills. 

Each project is based around a design and technology subject focus of structures, mechanisms, cooking and nutrition or textiles. The design and technology curriculum’s electronic systems and IT monitoring and control elements are explicitly taught in our science projects to ensure the links between the subjects are highlighted. 

Where possible, meaningful links to other areas of the curriculum have been made. For example, the cooking and nutrition project Eat the Seasons is taught alongside the geography project Sow, Grow and Farm. All the projects follow a structure where children are introduced to key concepts and build up knowledge and skills over time, using a more comprehensive range of equipment and building, cutting, joining, finishing and cooking techniques as they progress through school. 

All projects contain focused, practical tasks in the Develop stage to help children gain the knowledge and skills needed to complete their Innovate tasks independently. 

Throughout Key Stages 1 and 2, children build up their knowledge and understanding of the iterative design process. They design, make, test and evaluate their products to match specific design criteria and ensure they fit their purpose. Throughout the projects, children are taught to work hygienically and safely. 

Key Stage 1 (Year 1 & Year 2)

In the Autumn Term of Year 1, children begin to learn about structures in the project Shade and Shelter before designing and making a shelter. In the Spring Term project Taxi!, they learn the term ‘mechanism’ and assemble and test wheels and axles. In the Summer Term, children begin to learn about food sources in the project Chop, Slice and Mash and use simple preparation techniques to create a supermarket sandwich. In the Autumn Term of Year 2, the project Towers, Tunnels and Turrets help the children learn about design, structures and materials. This project develops children’s knowledge of how to successfully design and build model bridges and buildings. In the Spring Term, the children learn more about food in the project Remarkable Recipes, where they find out about food sources, follow recipes and learn simple cooking techniques. This is followed by the project, Push and Pull. This project teaches children about three types of mechanism: sliders, levers and linkages. They make models of each mechanism before designing and making a greetings card with a moving part.

In the Summer Term project Beach Hut, children develop their knowledge of structures further, learning to cut, join and strengthen wood for the first time.

Lower Key Stage 2 (Year 3 & Year 4)

In the Autumn Term of Year 3, children continue to learn about food, understanding the concept of a balanced diet and making healthy meals in the project Cook Well, Eat well. In the Spring Term project Scrumdiddlyumptious, the children explore the tasty world of food, developing their knowledge of food groups, food origins, healthy eating and physical changes during cooking. In the Summer Term project, Greenhouse, they continue to develop their knowledge of structures, using triangles and braces for strength. They design and build a greenhouse, using their understanding of opacity and transparency and the needs of plants from science learning to inform their design.

In the Spring Term Year 4 project, Functional and Fancy Fabrics, the children continue to explore textiles, learning about the work of William Morris before designing, embellishing and finishing a fabric sample. In the Summer Term they also explore and use electrical systems and IT monitoring and control in the science project Electrical Circuits and Conductors for the first time.

Upper Key Stage 2 (Year 5 & Year 6)

In the Spring Term Year 5 project Eat the Seasons, the children continue to explore food and nutrition, learning about seasonal foods and the benefits of eating seasonally. In the Summer Term, they learn more about structures in the project Architecture, studying the history of architecture and developing new ways to create structural strength and stability. They use computer-aided design and consolidate their making skills to produce scale models. They also explore the electrical conductivity of materials before making products incorporating circuits in the science project Properties and Changes of Materials. 

In the Spring Term Year 6 project, Make Do and Mend, the children extend their knowledge of textiles by learning new stitches to join fabrics and using pattern pieces to create a range of products. In the Summer Term project Engineer, they consolidate their knowledge of structures, joining and strengthening techniques and electrical systems by completing a bridge-building challenge.