The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before.

Neil Gaiman

 

Aim

The principal aim of the Design & Technology department is to develop an awareness of design and how it relates to the world in which we live.

Approach

In the Pre-Prep department, Design & Technology lessons build the foundations for the children's learning by feeding their imagination and sense of invention and discovery.  Each class benefits from a collaborative approach between the form teacher and the specialist Design & Technology teacher.

Children have lessons each week for one hour delivered by the form teacher with the support of the specialist Design & Technology teacher.  Each group will do a half termly project comprising of investigations and focused practical tasks in the production of a working design.

The final term of Year 2 allows the children the special opportunity to be taught in the workshop and experience real tools in a manufacturing environment. This will prepare them for transition into Key Stage 2 and provide them with an understanding of workshop safety.

What will my child study?

• Year 1 - Exploring joining parts and movement, Creating simple mechanical systems.
• Year 2 - Creating simple circuits.
• Year 3 - Safety in the workshop/using hand tools and resistant materials, hand sewn textiles/conductive thread, introduction to basic food analysis.
• Year 4 - Wood and joining materials/surface finishes, Food Technology/safety in the kitchen, Electrical systems.
• Year 5 - Introduction to textiles techniques and construction, hand and machine methods, Exploring thermoplastics, heating, shaping, vacuum forming.  All of the design and make projects will include support work covering the following: Ideas generation/product analysis, materials techniques and processes, design methods/final outcome and evaluation/testing.
• Year 6 - Electronics: circuits/switches/soldering/pewter casting, Understanding shape, balance, complex structures.