Design & Technology

East Farleigh's Design and Technology (DT) curriculum aims to inspire creativity and innovation in all our students. By combining the DT Association’s ‘Projects on a Page’ and the Cornerstone Maestro curriculum progression, we provide a comprehensive and engaging DT education.

Overview

Our DT curriculum is designed to develop children's skills, knowledge, and understanding through a range of engaging projects and activities. We encourage our students to become problem solvers and critical thinkers, applying their creativity and technical skills to real-world challenges.

Projects on a Page

The ‘Projects on a Page’ approach from the DT Association offer a flexible and structured approach to DT education. These resources provide a variety of exciting projects that cover different aspects of design and technology, including:

- Structures: Building models and structures using various materials.
- Mechanisms: Exploring how things work, such as levers, gears, and pulleys.
- Textiles: Designing and creating textile products.
- Food Technology: Understanding nutrition and cooking simple dishes.
- Electrical Systems: Experimenting with circuits and creating electrically powered models.

Each project is designed to be adaptable, allowing teachers to tailor the content to the needs and interests of their students.

 Curriculum Progression

The Cornerstone Maestro curriculum progression ensures that our DT education is coherent and builds on prior knowledge and skills year by year. This framework provides a clear pathway for students to develop their DT capabilities, ensuring a balanced and progressive curriculum. Key features include:

- Skill Development: Focusing on the progression of technical skills, from basic cutting and joining to more complex techniques.
- Knowledge Building: Enhancing students' understanding of materials, tools, and processes.
- Innovation and Creativity: Encouraging original thinking and the ability to generate and develop ideas.
- Evaluation and Improvement: Teaching students to evaluate their own work and make improvements based on feedback.

A full progression document will be available here soon.

Learning Environment

Our  ‘Garden Room’ classroom is the perfect setting for our DT activities. With a large ‘Kitchen Table’ for collaborative work and a tranquil deck area for inspiration and reflection, students have the ideal environment to explore their creative potential. The room is equipped with all the necessary tools and materials to support a wide range of projects, from woodworking and textiles to electronics and cooking.

DT News

• Friday 27 June 2025 Let's catch a taxi? This project taught our Year 1 children about wheels, axles and chassis and how they work together to make a vehicle move.
• Thursday 3 April 2025 Year 5 begin building the Parthenon! Our DT day began with looking at techniques for building frame structures. We used isometric paper to draw our cuboids and then began making an initial model using straws. This allowed us to practise our measuring..."measure twice, cut once" was the aim!
• Sunday 19 January 2025 Year 1 DT - bird hides Year 1 have been making bird hides as part of their DT unit.
• Friday 17 January 2025 Scrummy snack making in Class Two! This term in Year Two, we have been exploring a healthy diet. We have worked hard to develop key cooking skills like cutting, mixing, peeling and grating. For our final project, we used these skills to create healthy no-bake snack bars!
• Friday 10 January 2025 Designer DT! After many weeks researching the 'make do and mend' principals of WW2, designing and adapting, colleting materials for upcycling, learning about sewing patterns and different sewing techniques we have finally created our final piece!
• Thursday 28 November 2024 Tomb Raiders in Year 4 This week we have got our teeth stuck into our DT project for this term - pneumatics! We explored what pneumatic devices are, can be used for and how we use them in every day life. Initially we explored what balloon based pneumatics were before creating syringe pneumatic networks.
• Friday 15 November 2024 Dinner time for the birds of East Farleigh Well, it's been a hoot and a half for our forest school and outdoor learning day in Year 4! Our little fledglings have been flapping their creative wings in forest school. Armed with saws, drills, and a whole lot of enthusiasm, they've been busy building bird feeders for our feathered friends in East Farleigh. After all, it's not just us humans who appreciate a good dinner time!