DT Spring 2024

Reception

This term, the children in Reception have been enjoying their Fantasy topic. They have been using a variety of materials to create ll sorts of things they may find in a fantasy book! They have created pirate hats, dragons and many other fantastical objects. The children also enjoyed some cooking this term. They decided what to put on top of their pancakes and tasted them to check which one they liked best.

Year 1

In Year 1, the children found out about different climates and how houses are designed to survive floods in other areas of the world. The children then made their own flood-proof houses in pairs. They thought about the features of a real house in a flood risk area and applied this to their own creation. The children then tested their houses by flooding a tray with water.

Year 2

In Year 2 the children talked about different ways of travel. The children learnt about boats and designed their own. They thought about what materials would be best to use and how to ensure their boat would travel on water. The children chose their own materials to make their boats and tested them to see if their design and build had been successful. They then evaluated their boats and thought about what they would do differently next time. The children also made bruschetta and loved getting to taste and evaluate it!

DT Autumn 2023

Reception

The children in Reception have been focusing on healthy eating and where fruit comes from. The children had a look at a variety of fruits and discussed which ones they enjoy to eat. They also learnt that fruit have vitamins in them to give us energy, help us grow and stay strong. The children then had the challenge to assemble their own fruit kebabs and try some fruits they never had tried before.

Some of the children shared their thoughts:

Rylee – “The apple is sour”.

Emily – “The raspberries are very squishy”.

Evie-Rose – “The apples are hard so it’s tricky to get them on the stick”.

Edith – “These are my favourite (raspberries) because they are juicy”.

During our ‘Celebrations’ topic we learnt about the Hindu festival of Diwali. We created our own diva lamps out of clay and decorated them using sequins. We have also been working hard practising our safe scissor skills to create with purpose. We have made some lovely decorations and paper snowflakes for our classrooms.

Year 1

This term, the children were tasked with designing a product which would allow them to carry belongings across ice such as was used by Robert Falcon Scott on his trip to Antarctica. The children were able to design their product and then make it using the materials that we have in school. They then tested their creations by placing some school equipment inside and pulling it along a table to represent the surface of the ice. The children then evaluated their products based on how well they were able to transport the belongings across the table. The children also made fish tanks and thought of ways they could make the fish move inside their tank.

The children have also been able to make shortbread biscuits as part of our English topic. They weighed out ingredients and helped to mix the dough and shape them. They then decorated them into snowmen.

Year 2 Autumn

In Design and Technology the children will design and make a lantern.  They design the lantern independently and think about the equipment and materials they would need. The children have also made castles as part of their topic. They used a variety of equipment and thought carefully about what they wanted to include in their designs and evaluated them after.  This is a really important part of the Design, Make and Evaluate process as it allows us to think about what worked really well and anything that could be improved next time.

The children have also designed and made a lantern for Guy Fawkes, the children thought carefully about their design and included careful thought on how their lantern could show the most light

The children were also able to follow a recipe to make a treacle tart as part of their history day this term. They added and mixed ingredients as well as taste testing the result. They especially enjoyed this part! They have also baked Speculaas biscuits in English focusing on these skills again.

DT Autumn 2023

Year 3 Autumn 2023

As part of our Ancient Egyptian unit, the children translated their first names into hieroglyphs, made a cartouche design and then moulded their own cartouche from clay. They researched the colours that the Ancient Egyptians used and tried to replicate these when painting and glazing their own cartouches.

In their food technology unit and using some of their food technology skills of chopping, weighing and mixing, the children made Egyptian bread ‘Kaak’ to taste test at home.

The recipe was adapted from one found on the tomb of Ramses III and involved creating a snail shape, boiling the dough – under adult supervision and then baking the bread.

Year 3 also created a cross curricular piece of work – combining art with D.T. be designing and creating a tile plate for the Gaudi inspired artwork of repeating patterns.

Year 4 Autumn, 2023

This term in DT, we made Roman cake stands to place our apple crumbles on. We used our mosaic knowledge to design the top of our cake stands. Once completed, we began assembling our cake stands. This involved lots of trial and error.

We enjoyed using a wide range of materials to see what would work best for our cake stands. Then we made our apple crumble. We used many of our Food Technology skills such as peeling, chopping and mixing. Once completed, we were able to test the strength of our cake stands and taste test our apple crumbles.

Year 5 – Autumn 2, 2022

In DT this half term, we have been focusing on designing and creating a Viking Longboat with a pneumatic system. This has been linked to our History topic of the Vikings, where the children have learnt lots about the designs of Longboats and why they were designed that way.

First, the children completed a design brief, where they carefully considered what materials and tools they were going to use. The children used many skills such as: sawing, measuring, drilling and cutting using a wide range of equipment. After the structure of the Longboat was built, the children were able to decorate their boats. The children were so proud of their final products!

As part of the food technology unit, Year 5 chose to make stained glass window shortbread biscuits. They continued to develop their food technology skills through chopping, weighing and cutting when following the recipe.

Year 6 Autumn 2, 2022

As part of our topic on World War 2, the children designed and made Anderson Shelters. They used their measuring, cutting and design skills to create their shelters and then evaluated them based upon their strength and appearance. The children worked very hard to make them look authentic; some even had little vegetables growing on the roof just as they did during the war.