Design & Technology

We are determined to stimulate the enthusiasm of every individual at St Thomas’, developing an enjoyment in learning about products and achieving success in their own creations. Design and Technology gives children the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and understanding of designing and making functional products. We feel it is vital to nurture creativity and innovation through design, and by exploring the designed and made world in which we all live and work.

It is essential that children engage in DT projects that are relevant to their other curriculum learning in a meaningful way, enabling them to design and make products for purpose to meet a given design brief. Design and Technology at St Thomas’ is taught through: investigate and evaluate activities, focused tasks and design, make and evaluate projects supported by subject specific knowledge and vocabulary, all of which become increasingly challenging as pupil progress through the school.

Year 1

Autumn

Spring

Summer

Using pictures and words to plan
Explaining what we are making and our own ideas
Cutting materials using scissors
Describing how something works
Making a product that moves

Explaining what I want to do and thinking of some ideas independently
Making simple plans
Selecting appropriate resources and tools
Cutting materials using scissors
Making a structure or model using different materials

Describing how different textures feel
Grouping and sorting fabrics and threads
Creating weavings using a range of materials
Cutting food safely and describing the texture

Washing hands and making sure surfaces are clean

Year 2

Autumn

Spring

Summer

Design a product using ideas and plan what to do next.
Make a textile product by marking out, cutting and joining pieces of fabric.
Look at a selection of hand puppets and base their design on their investigations into how the puppets have been made and who they have been designed for.
Explain what went well during task.
Explain what improvements could be made if the task were to be repeated.

Winding Mechanisms:

Use a range of materials creatively to design and make products.
Research, design and build a winding mechanism to enhance and develop their D&T and team work skills.
Use tools to assemble, join and combine materials.
Talk about their own and others’ work.
Suggest their own ideas for improvement and explain this in detail.

Designing and making a healthy wrap and fruit salad.
Generating ideas by drawing on their own and other people’s experiences.
Selecting tools, materials and use the appropriate vocabulary to name and describe them.
Using hand tools safely and appropriately.
Evaluating against their design criteria.

Year 3

Autumn

Spring

Summer

We will be creating our own mini versions of wattle and daub walls and exploring structural and scientific elements of construction.
We will share our ideas, then experiment with new mediums whilst developing a range of art and design techniques.

Learning about healthy sandwiches.
Creating a design for a sandwich; making the product whilst learning basic food preparations, techniques and evaluating the chosen idea against the brief.
Writing instructions in English.

Learning how to build a photo frame, understanding how to stiffen materials and make a stable structure.
Creating designs make products and evaluate the chosen idea.
Linking this to our Art topic of portraits.

Year 4

Autumn

Spring

Summer

Through our learning of the Anglo-Saxons, we will be learning to:

Come up with at least one idea about how to create my product.
Measure carefully so as to make sure I don’t make mistakes.
Take on other people’s advice when designing.
Begin to explain how I can improve my original design.
To show a good level of expertise when using a range of tools and equipment.
To work at a product even if original idea did not work very well.

We will learn about food technology linked to our theme of France, learning the following skills:

Know what to do to be hygienic and safe.
Thinking about what I can do to present my product in an interesting way.
Take other people’s ideas into account when designing.
Produce a plan and explain it to others.
Suggest some improvements and say what was good and not so good about my design.

Through our topic of Africa, we will take inspiration from books and historical events, using the following skills:

Use earlier learnt skills (sewing using different stitches, sewing on detail, quilting etc) as part of a project.
Think about how to make my product strong.
Devise a template.
Use a range of advanced techniques to shape and mould.
Use finishing techniques showing an aware of audience.
Tell if my finished product is going to be of good quality
Evaluate my product thinking of both appearance and how it works
Take time to consider how I could have made my idea better

Year 5

Autumn

Spring

Summer

Through a diorama based design process linked to our topic on space.

Generate ideas through brainstorming and identifying a purpose for a product.
Select appropriate materials, tools and techniques.
Measure and mark out accurately.
Cut and join with accuracy.
Use basic skills in using different tools and equipment safely and accurately, with some support.
Evaluate work at the end of the assignment.

Through a Victorian puppet theatre based design process linked to our topic on Victorians.

New skills to be learned: scoring, reinforcing, detailed diagram drawing.

Generate ideas through brainstorming and identifying a purpose for a product.
Select appropriate materials, tools and techniques.
Produce a detailed step-by-step plan.
Check to see whether anything can be improved.
Evaluate appearance and function against the original criteria

Mayan Printing (cross over with art)

Making Mayan food)

Produce a detailed step-by-step plan.
Suggest some good alternative plans and discuss the positives and negatives about each.
Keep checking that design is the best that it can be.
Check to see whether anything can be improved.
Evaluate appearance and function against the original criteria.
Describe how to be both hygienic and safe.
Present a product well.

Year 6

Autumn

Spring

Summer

Using tools safely and accurately.
Planning the order of work and developing a design specification.
Constructing products using permanent joining techniques.
Pinning, sewing and stitching materials together to create a product.
Making modifications as we go along.
Evaluating against the original criteria and suggest ways to improve.

Working collaboratively on a larger scale.
Producing increasingly detailed preparatory sketches.
Making imaginative use of knowledge of tools, techniques and materials to express ideas and feelings.
Identifying suitable equipment and material to convey ideas.
Developing the experience of embellishing.

Producing increasingly detailed preparatory sketches.
Planning the order of work, choosing appropriate materials, tools and techniques.
Exploring, developing and communicating aspects of design proposals by modelling ideas in different ways.
Selecting appropriate tools, materials, components and techniques.
Using tools safely and accurately.
Constructing products using permanent joining techniques.
Evaluating products, identifying strengths and areas for development.