Pittington Primary School | Hallgarth Lane, Durham, County Durham DH6 1AF

0191 3720314

Pittington Primary School

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Design and Technology at Pittington

Summer Term 2021

In Nursery we have been practising our cutting skills.  We have talked about the correct scissor hold and how to turn the paper to follow a line when cutting.  We have been enjoying time at the new woodwork bench outside.  We have learned how to use the hammers and screwdrivers safely and the importance of wearing our safety goggles and carrying tools safely too.  We have used the hammers and pins to make shape pictures.  Effectively using the tools to secure each shape in place.  In our role play area we have been using the chopping and fruit, knives and chopping boards with increasing control.

Reception

The Queens Knickers- designing, making, evaluating! 

The children have designed knickers for the queen linked to our class text- The Queen’s Knickers. 

The children thought carefully about their individual designs and came up with some wonderful ideas. The children needed to think of unique ideas that would make their creation more interesting and appealing.  They labelled their designs, talked about the features of their design and then evaluated their end product.   

This project has been ongoing for a couple weeks and the children have enjoyed each part of the process. 

I am sure the Queen would be delighted to wear any of those! 

Little Chefs! 

The children took part in a cooking workshop. They used their senses to explore new ingredients and used their motor skills to slice, chop and peel! The children talked about the process of preparing, cooking/making and eating!  

Year 1

This term Year 1 have been super chefs! We practised our cutting skills on different fruits and vegetables before tasting them. We then designed and made our own fruit salads. They were delicious!  

Year 2

This term Year 2 have been busy designing and making their own dragon puppets! The children have worked hard on developing their sewing skills and have confidently used running stich to sew additions onto their designs.  ]

Some children added wings and others chose fire, teeth and tails! We are so proud of our puppets and hope you like them too!  

Year 4

Levers, linkages, pushes and pulls…..they have all been part of the Year 4 learning curve this term. We have spent a lot of time making working models which use different types of levers and create different movements. The children are now working on their own designs which will encourage others to recycle and keep the streets clean and tidy. 

Year 5

In Year 5, we have focused upon freestanding frame structures, and how they can be strengthened and composed for greater stability. This has included an exploration of existing frame structures which apply these elements. We were able to explore the design purpose of these. We then progressed to making our own frame structures by strengthening paper, measuring and cutting accurately and applying triangulation. We are working towards a goal of combining frame structures and then testing their strength and stability. 

Year 6

In DT this term, the children have been learning about reducing, recycling and reusing fabric. We looked at colour and pattern and used our sewing skills to create a patchwork hedgehog on a recycled t-shirt. Three different types of stitching was used.  Can you guess what they were? 

Autumn Term 2020

During Autumn 2020 we implemented our revised Design and Technology (DT) curriculum to provide multiple opportunities for our children to learn and practise their DT skills.  As part of the National Curriculum we have four strands for DT which are to design, make, evaluate and have technical knowledge through which our children can critique, evaluate and test their design ideas and the products made by their peers.

There is also a cooking and nutrition component through which our children understand the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet, prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques and understand seasonality, know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed

 To help with their learning Pittington Primary links this strand of the DT curriculum with what they learn within:

  • Science - Properties and changes of materials
  • Science - Animals, including humans
  • PSHRE (personal, social, health and citizenship) - Health and Well Being 

EYFS – Nursery and Reception

DT learning within Nursery is mostly through Expressive Arts and Design (Exploring and Using Media and Materials) and Physical Development (Moving and Handling) (30-50 months) and children are encouraged use various construction materials.  To begin with they construct by stacking blocks vertically and horizontally, making enclosures and creating spaces.  This progresses to joining construction pieces together to build and balance and then children recognise that one-handed tools and equipment can be used for a purpose, such as to make snips in paper with scissors.

There can be child-initiated learning or sometimes DT activities link to their weekly class book, such as making magic porridge pots with salt dough, bear caves with boxes, road maps and then there was the scarecrow when learning about Harvest. Continuous learning opportunities take place both inside and outside where children have access to a range of resources and materials to independently design and make things on a small and large scale as well as the new woodwork bench.

Within Reception class children have been exploring the variety of ways to join different media together such as using masking tape, glue, staples, paperclips and bending pipe-cleaners.  The children have also been designing and building on larger scales too such as houses outdoors and with indoor construction equipment.  The children have been revisiting their work and making additions to enhance their designs.

The children in Nursery have been enjoying designing and making.  They have designed and made a bear cave using cardboard boxes and other construction materials following our work on the book ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’.  They have enjoyed designing and making their own road maps for their toy cars after learning about road safety.  When we looked at the book ‘The Magic Porridge Pot’ they were keen to make their own porridge pots.  We used salt dough to mould the pot shape and then decorated them with paint, glitter and sequins.  Our proudest creation has to be the scarecrow that we made for the Nursery garden.  The children were so excited to show their parents and still talk about it now!  We used the book ‘The Scarecrows Secret’ to help us make our own scarecrow.  We gathered the resources including old clothes, sticks, straw and string and then went outside and all helped to make the scarecrow.  It looked amazing in the garden, we hope that everyone got to see it.

The children were set a challenge linked to our Masai theme....to make a Kraal outside using natural materials!

The children were placed into groups and were asked to collect sticks. We discussed how it is important to think about the size and shapes of the sticks before selecting them (to help build their Kraal design). Last week we talked about teamwork and negotiating together so this week we talked about discussing the design of the kraal with team-mates and choosing a suitable spot to build it. The children found working collaboratively quite tricky at first but with reminders and discussions about how Masai people work in groups to build things they began to work with some resilience and compromise.

The children set off with their sticks and began to build. The children enjoyed this challenged and the problem-solving aspect where they had to make the best kraal they could achieve. We saw some very impressive designing and building!

Continuing our work with Masai culture the children explored the footwear that Masai people make to wear.  Children attempted to design and make sandals.  We investigated the materials that the Masai people would use, not paper and glue…but animal hide. 

Key Stage 1 – Years 1 and 2

Children in years one and two enjoy the practical aspects of learning DT by having termly opportunities for creative and practical activities that link with their local community such as their home, our school garden, playground and field, regional industry and the global environment.

Design brief: To build a freestanding structure

The children were given the brief to build a safe shelter for the second little pig linked to our class reader in English this term. They needed to use materials collected on the field, it needed to stand up alone and it needed to keep the pig sheltered from the weather.

The children gathered sticks and leaves and set about building their structures. Some children used the earth and pushed sticks down into the ground to help them to stand. We talked about how this would help to strengthen the structure and about foundations for buildings being very important.

Evaluating and improving

We talked about the design brief and how our structures measured up. We all came to the conclusion very quickly that they were not strong enough and needed to be strengthened in some way. One child asked for string to help tie his materials together another asked for tape. We watched a video clip about strong shapes and how they were used in designing and building strong structures. We found that squares and triangles were particularly strong and popular choices.

The children were given string and play dough to work on a design to create a stronger shelter structure for the second little pig. This time added to the criteria was that the wolf should not be able to blow it down. Every new structure the children created this session stood the test of 5 wolves (children) blowing very hard! We talked about why the structures were stronger and what we had learned so far.

Foundations

We watched a clip about buildings and why foundations are so important. We talked about why buildings sometimes need to be tall and how they are designed to save space particularly in countries that are highly populated. We then took the paper cup challenge to build the tallest structure from 20 cups. We experimented with lots of different designs and had lots of ruined buildings throughout the lesson! We found that a good foundation was essential and that different designs worked much better than others.

LOWER Key Stage 2 – Years 3 and 4

Our children are able to build on the skills and understand practised in KS1 and improve their knowledge for how to design and make products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups and contribute by solving a challenge.

Almost all children enjoy drawing and at our school there are many opportunities within DT to put pencil to paper and play with their design ideas using annotated sketches, cross-sectional drawings and exploded diagrams.

As their manual dexterity improves they select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment when cutting, shaping, joining and finishing to ensure that their products are functional and aesthetically pleasing.

After learning about hygiene when using food and writing guidelines for several safe cutting and grating methods, the class then practised their skills. The children used the bridge hold cut, a fork secure cut and safe grating.

 

Upper Key Stage 2 – Years 5 & 6

With the skills practised, their improved knowledge and successes at understanding our children continue to design and make products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups and contribute by solving a challenge.

As their practical skills, knowledge of design and understanding of material properties develop children at our school work with more complex structures considering how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce then or incorporate gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages.  After evaluate the prototypes of products they have made, children can begin to incorporate what they now from science and use circuits, switches, bulbs, buzzers or motors.

In Year 5 we have focused upon gears and pulleys, and how they can be applied to create movement. This has included an exploration of existing products which apply these elements. We were able to look at the target consumer group and any deliberate design choices. We have also explored technical drawing with a plan of producing our own pulley or cog driven toy car.

Y6 started their topic on electrical lights by exploring how technology has changed the world. We then used the Internet to conduct market research on existing Christmas lights and design our own.

Insert photo from display.

Unfortunately, as our bubble had to close 2 weeks before Christmas, we didn’t get our lights constructed but we had some wonderful ideas!

Enrichment Opportunities 

Government restrictions and risk assessments have hindered the offering of opportunities from outreach educators who bring hands on opportunities that show how DT is used within business and industries of our region or to make visits to exhibitions, have in school DT events and even in class experiences from parents and carers with design or engineering areas of expertise who bring equipment, exhibits or just convey their passion for this subject.

However, discussions are being maintained so that these can resume, hopefully in the Spring term, but more probably during the summer term.

Spring Term 2020 

 Before the premature end of this Spring term, children had learnt and practised more of the DT skills for this academic year and continued to combine their DT skills with science and other curriculum subjects.  The children had succeeded with many aspects of developing their skills to design, make, evaluate and test their designed products.  Healthy and varied food was prepared and cooked using a range of techniques.  Next term we will hopefully be able to use our new portable induction hob. 

Early Years – Nursery and Reception 

The adult explains: 

In Nursery we have been looking at the traditional tale ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’.  The children became interested in constructing bridges, so we started to look at different bridges in the North East area and talked about what and who would use them, for example cars, trains, people.  We also looked at the different ways in which they were designed and constructed and how some move. The children planned, designed and constructed bridges both inside and outside of Nursery using wooden blocks, tyres, crates and cardboard. We tested the strength of our bridges using toy cars during a group session and talked about which design we thought was best and why.  

Following a child’s personal interest, we decided to look at volcanoes.  We talked about what they are and the countries where they are found.  We then decided to make our own volcano using papier-mâché.  We used a cone to make the basic shape of the volcano and then added layers of newspaper and glue until we had a good shape.  Next we decided to paint the volcano and then made it erupt. It was great fun and quite challenging to get the shape and design correct.  The children became inspired by this learning and made their own volcanoes independently using a range of materials such as construction blocks, cardboard and play dough.

The children in year 1 had a visit from a special guest called Sarah who came to teach them about healthy eating and cooking.  She helped the children to make 3 delicious dishes: 

Peaches, banana and mango fruit smoothie (followed by raspberries in the second smoothie) 

Five Chinese spice vegetable stir fry with honey and soy sauce 

Mackerel, crème fraîche , lemon juice and parsley on crackers 

Sarah was fantastic and encouraged the children to be ‘hands on’.  They took part in stirring, peeling, pouring and tasting!  Some children were extremely excited about tasting something new while others were a little cautious. Everyone had a chance to try the food they wanted to.  The children really enjoyed watching the process of preparing and cooking food, as well as discussing the ingredients.  We had a great time learning about healthy dishes. 

Key Stage 1 – Year One and Year Two 

During this shortened Spring term, children in key stage one continued to enjoy the practical aspects of learning DT with a range of creative and practical activities linked with our village and school community. 

The children explored different kinds of mechanisms, such as sliders and levers. To explore and promote the children’s learning in Design and Technology skills we used some of their favourite traditional stories and animals to create interactive resources. From a running gingerbread man to a dinosaur hatching thy used the knowledge they learnt about mechanisms to create moving figures and scenes. We then worked together and discussed the positives and negatives of what we had made and whether there could be a way to improve them for the user. We had lots of fun creating these and enjoyed using them during our stories. 

In year 2 this term we have been designing and building a hedgehog house. We researched Hedgehogs and found out that there are less than a million left in the UK, compared to over 30 million in the 1950’s therefore, we wanted to do something to help. We learnt about Hedgehogs and discussed what kind of materials would be best to create a warm inviting home for a Hedgehog.  

We designed our house and thought about the structure and how we could make it as robust as possible. We discussed our ideas through drawing and talking and presented them to the class. We then went on to build our Hedgehog house out of wood, bricks, leaves, strong glue and duck tape. We each had our own individual task when building the structure and we all worked well as a team. Afterwards we evaluated our hedgehog home and thought about ways in which we could improve it. Some of the suggestions were to make a smaller tunnel entrance so the Hedgehog would feel safer.  

We are looking forward to revisiting our Hedgehog home to make improvements to it in time for Autumn and Winter.. just incase a Hedgehog may need a home! 

Lower Key Stage 2 – Year Three and Year Four 

With the skills practised, their improved knowledge and successes at understanding our children continue to design and make products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups and contribute by solving a challenge. 

Almost all children enjoy drawing and at our school there are many opportunities within DT to put pencil to paper and play with their design ideas using annotated sketches, cross-sectional drawings and exploded diagrams.  Children completed the first four components of the design process using the classroom display as a reminder.

Year 4 focused on healthy and balanced foods and explored the challenge of designing a balanced sandwich for a Viking to take upon an expedition.  This has included being able to explore and evaluate existing products. The children looked closely at what each food group provides for the body. They also looked at how produced foods such as bread are made.   

Upper Key Stage 2 – Year Five and Year Six 

As their manual dexterity improves they select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment when cutting, shaping, joining and finishing to ensure that their products are functional and aesthetically pleasing. 

As their practical skills, knowledge of design and understanding of material properties develop children at our school work with more complex structures considering how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce then or incorporate gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages.  After evaluating the prototypes of a product they made, children begin to incorporate what they know from science and use circuits, switches, bulbs, buzzers or motors. 

Our food technology work this term allowed the year 5 children to explore seasonality and fruits and vegetables that are imported and exported from the UK. The teacher explains: 

We researched how professional chefs felt about the issue and listened to debates around the subject. We then set to work on preparing seasonal vegetables in different ways and cooking them in class together. We used, beetroot, swede and potatoes and experimented with grating, peeling, slicing and dicing in preparation. We then explored roasting, boiling, frying and steaming during work on cooking techniques. Everyone enjoyed the tasting part in each session and some children faced their fears and tried something new.  

Our next step was to use these skills to put together a healthy snack to take with us to the dance festival. We talked about the design brief including costings and packaging. If we manage to get back before the end of term it would be great to finish the project we started. 

Year 6 have been exploring Easter lights in DT.  Although they didn’t get the opportunity to make them due to the school closure, the children started by conducting some market research and sketched a plan for our designs.   

Enrichment opportunities 

Children within each key stage periodically have opportunities to experience visiting designers, engineers or visit exhibitions that give hands on opportunities that show how DT is used within business and industries of our region.  Other opportunities include designing products that have been sent away and manufactured and then used in school or entering competitions and STEM events at Beamish Open Air museum. 

Autumn Term 2019

At Pittington Primary School we provide many opportunities for our children to learn and practise design & technology (DT) skills.  As part of the National Curriculum we have four strands for DT which are to design, make, evaluate and have technical knowledge through which our children can critique, evaluate and test their design ideas and the products made by their peers.

There is also a cooking and nutrition component through which our children understand the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet, prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques and understand seasonality, know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed

To help with their learning Pittington Primary links this strand of the DT curriculum with what they learn within:

Science - Properties and changes of materials

Science - Animals, including humans

PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) - Health and Well Being

Early Years

During Autumn term children tried various techniques in the area of ‘Expressive arts and design’.  They explored different tools and how they can be used for a purpose.

Many of the children tried sewing for the first time, learning how to use a needle effectively.

Children explored how to use various tools and techniques at our woodwork bench.

The children had been fishing with fishing rods in the classroom so adults modelled how to make fish using paper and paper clips.  Designs were tested in the school pond.  Two of our fish sank so we are looking forward to seeing some rainbow fish in the summer if they have babies!

Children have also been interested in designing and constructing towns and cities this term.  They designed maps of towns and also looked at the features of some of the buildings.  These constructions are Tower Bridge and Big Ben from London.

There has been lots of fun experimenting with a variety of different methods to create wonderful masterpieces such as sunglasses and superheroes.  The children have been exploring the variety of ways to join different media together such as using masking tape, glue, staples, paperclips and bending pipe-cleaners!

The children have also been designing and building on larger scales too such as houses outdoors and with indoor construction equipment.  The children have been revisiting their work and making additions to enhance their designs.

Finally, they put all our skills together to make a giant sized The Very Hungry Caterpillar for Pittington Lumiere!

Key Stage 1

Children in years one and two enjoy the practical aspects of learning DT by having termly opportunities for creative and practical activities that link with their local community such as their home, our school garden, playground and field, regional industry and the global environment.

Children have been exploring how to build structures.  Linked to their topic fire and ice, they learnt about The Great Fire of London and wanted to make their very own Tudor houses.  They looked at how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable.  The children discussed ideas through talking and drawing, and shared ideas with each other.  They agreed together on the best materials to use for the Tudor houses and were all very happy with the results.

Key Stage 2

With the skills practised, their improved knowledge and successes at understanding our children continue to design and make products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups and contribute by solving a challenge.

Almost all children enjoy drawing and at our school there are many opportunities within DT to put pencil to paper and play with their design ideas using annotated sketches, cross-sectional drawings and exploded diagrams.

As their manual dexterity improves they select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment when cutting, shaping, joining and finishing to ensure that their products are functional and aesthetically pleasing.

As their practical skills, knowledge of design and understanding of material properties develop children at our school work with more complex structures considering how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce then or incorporate gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages.  After evaluate the prototypes of products they have made, children can begin to incorporate what they now from science and use circuits, switches, bulbs, buzzers or motors.

Enrichment opportunities

Children within each key stage periodically have opportunities to experience visiting designers, engineers or visit exhibitions that give hands on opportunities that show how DT is used within business and industries of our region.  Other opportunities include designing products that have been sent away and manufactured and then used in school, or entering competitions and STEM events at Beamish Open Air museum.

Summer Term 2019

By the end of this summer term, children will have learnt and practised all the DT skills for this academic year.  The children have succeeded with many aspects of developing their skills to design, make, evaluate and test their designed products.  Healthy and varied food has been prepared and cooked using a range of techniques.

They have continued to combine their DT skills with science and other curriculum subjects.

Early Years – Nursery and Reception

Since Easter, the children have used the hammer and nails to make a car in their outside woodwork area.  In this area, one young child used the nails, hammers and saws to make… well what else… a minimising tool!  The other day one of the children used the different materials in the construction area to make a star house.

Key Stage 1 – Year One and Year Two

During this summer term, children in key stage one have continued to enjoy the practical aspects of learning DT with a range of creative and practical activities linked with our village and school community.

This summer term we have been focussing on testing and evaluating products, product design and the design process.  Our aim was to test and evaluate a range of bubble baths for Mr. Stink and give him a recommendation of which we liked the most from our rigorous testing criteria.  We then went on to discuss the ideas behind designing each one asking questions like:  Who is this product aimed at? How do you know? What colours, font, names have been used? Why is it that shape?   The class also designed their own bubble baths with their age range in mind.

Lower Key Stage 2 – Year Three and Year Four

Since the end of April, our lower key stage two children applied their knowledge with much greater focus on them being fit for purpose and designed for the needs of the customer.

With greater understanding of skills learnt from the art and craft curriculum, our children developed the skills with using annotated sketches, cross-sectional drawings and exploded diagrams.

Children have been making papier-mâché mini-beasts as part of our animal habitats topic.   

Upper Key Stage 2 – Year Five and Year Six

As the end of the academic year approaches, children in upper key stage two demonstrate with more control their dexterity at using a wider range of tools for cutting, shaping, joining and finishing to ensure that their products are functional and aesthetically pleasing, as is required by their customer.  This was evident when children from UKS2 carried out market research with children from nursery.

Spring Term 2019

At Pittington Primary School we provide many opportunities for our children to learn and practise design & technology (DT) skills.  As part of the National Curriculum we have four strands for DT which are to design, make, evaluate and have technical knowledge through which our children can critique, evaluate and test their design ideas and the products made by their peers.

There is also a cooking and nutrition component through which our children understand the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet, prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques and understand seasonality, know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed

To help with their learning, Pittington Primary links this strand of the DT curriculum with what they learn within:

Science - Properties and changes of materials

Science - Animals, including humans

PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) - Health and Well Being

Early Years – Nursery and Reception

During this term packaging and wrapping design was investigated with a focus on using of joining techniques for how materials are tied, glued, stuck and boxed things.  Experimentation and malleability was explored using gloop, clay, and when making play dough from raw ingredients.  There has been more design used before building in construction areas and design using Lego have been more detailed.  Children have become more expressive when explaining to their peers for how they have created their models. 

The source of food from farm to fork has been researched and similarities or differences between seeds and the end product have been investigated. 

With a focus on sustainability, crop waste and corn husk reuse and recycling was explored. 

Key Stage 1 – Year One and Year Two

Children in years one and two enjoy the practical aspects of learning DT by having termly opportunities for creative and practical activities that link with their local community such as their home, our school garden, playground and field, regional industry and the global environment.

Moving mechanisms was a focus and skills for how to cut a square from the centre of a piece of card were practised, as was the use of a sharp pencil and Blu Tack for putting a hole in card.  Knowledge of wheel, slider and lever was explored to make the moving mechanism scenes more interactive. 

Structures was explored with the investigation of a tipi, wigwam and treehouse design.  Consideration was given for how structures become  strong so that they do not bend, break, shatter or deform when force is applied and stability so they don’t topple.  Prior to the design was exploration with gumdrop structures to explore the rigidity of triangular building structures like bridges.  Finally, a design and make project was to make miniature tipis from items using sticks, wool, fabric, feathers and beads, concluding with an evaluation of their designs against a set of criteria. 

Lower Key Stage 2 – Year Three and Year Four

With the skills practised, their improved knowledge and successes at understanding our children continue to design and make products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups and contribute by solving a challenge.

Almost all children enjoy drawing and at our school there are many opportunities within DT to put pencil to paper and play with their design ideas using annotated sketches, cross-sectional drawings and exploded diagrams.

Children completed the first four components of the design process using the corridor display as a reminder.  Their evolving design ideas were explored with cardboard prototypes.  Evaluations provided opportunities for children to recognise that they may have over complicated the design and several realised they had deviated from the design brief to design a product for the needs of a customer. 

Seasonal availability of foods from the UK compared with Greece was also explored.

Children also had opportunities to make string telephones, researched

beam, suspension, arch and cantilever bridges, constructed small scale bridges and tested them using bridge kits with a follow on activity to construct bridges using rolled newspaper beams. 

Upper Key Stage 2 – Year Five and Year Six

As their manual dexterity improves they select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment when cutting, shaping, joining and finishing to ensure that their products are functional and aesthetically pleasing.

As their practical skills, knowledge of design and understanding of material properties develop children at our school work with more complex structures considering how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce then or incorporate gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages.  After evaluate the prototypes of products they have made, children can begin to incorporate what they now from science and use circuits, switches, bulbs, buzzers or motors.

Thanks to the support from local residents and allotment holders, the seasonality and growing of fruits and vegetables in our local community was explored.  Explanations to peers of produce grown on local farms included cooking and tasting of beetroot prepared three different ways.  In addition there has been the preparation and cooking of sweet potatoes, beetroot and parsnips.  Linked with food was the design and packaging of salad served in a ‘pop up kitchen’.  

At the end of the Autumn Term children completed an electrical decoration which included an element of control.  They applied dimmer switches which they made using graphite to control the brightness of the lights or the speed of a motor. 

Children investigated gears and pulleys in relation to making working models of fairground rides based upon the novel being studied in class.

Enrichment opportunities

Children within each key stage periodically have opportunities to experience visiting designers, engineers or visit exhibitions that give hands on opportunities that show how DT is used within business and industries of our region.  Other opportunities include designing products that have been sent away and manufactured and then used in school, or entering competitions and STEM events at Beamish Open Air museum.

Autumn Term 2018

At Pittington Primary School we provide many opportunities for our children to learn and practise design & technology (DT) skills.  As part of the National Curriculum we have four strands for DT which are to design, make, evaluate and have technical knowledge through which our children can critique, evaluate and test their design ideas and the products made by their peers.

There is also a cooking and nutrition component through which our children understand the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet, prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques and understand seasonality, know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.

 To help with their learning Pittington Primary links this strand of the DT curriculum with what they learn within:

Science - Properties and changes of materials

Science - Animals, including humans

PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) - Health and Well Being

Early Years and Key Stage 1

Children in years one and two enjoy the practical aspects of learning DT by having termly opportunities for creative and practical activities that link with their local community such as their home, our school garden, playground and field, regional industry and the global environment.

Key Stage 2

With the skills practised, their improved knowledge and successes at understanding our children continue to design and make products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups and contribute by solving a challenge.

Almost all children enjoy drawing and at our school there are many opportunities within DT to put pencil to paper and play with their design ideas using annotated sketches, cross-sectional drawings and exploded diagrams.

 As their manual dexterity improves they select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment when cutting, shaping, joining and finishing to ensure that their products are functional and aesthetically pleasing.

As their practical skills, knowledge of design and understanding of material properties develop children at our school work with more complex structures considering how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce then or incorporate gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages.  After evaluate the prototypes of products they have made, children can begin to incorporate what they now from science and use circuits, switches, bulbs, buzzers or motors.

Enrichment opportunities

Children within each key stage periodically have opportunities to experience visiting designers, engineers or visit exhibitions that give hands on opportunities that show how DT is used within business and industries of our region.  Other opportunities include designing products that have been sent away and manufactured and then used in school, or entering competitions and STEM events at Beamish Open Air museum.