So, unsurprisingly, lockdown restrictions won’t be lifted on 21 June. This week’s message is mainly about the current topic learning in Years 1 to 6 – Design and Technology is the main driver. We start with a Covid-related point and end with a quick reminder about something else!
Monday’s announcement from the Prime Minister
The Prime Minister announced on Monday that current restrictions remain in place. Schools have been advised by the Department for Education to keep current protective measures in place until there is a further announcement on Step 4 of the roadmap. These measures in education settings will remain in place to help reduce transmission of the virus. Subsequent guidance does allow a little bit of flexibility. We’re waiting for more guidance from Leeds Health and Safety advisors to see if any end-of-year events such as Sports Day can happen in some way, although in their typical form that won’t happen.
The rest of this message comes from Mr Wilks, who works at Moortown Primary but is our curriculum leader across all three Sphere Federation schools for Science and Foundation subjects…
Our current topic is all about Design and Technology
Design and Technology is the driving subject for this half-term and it’s a great topic to finish the year! The focus for all classes this year is construction (next year, it’s textiles) so children will be busy designing and making structures, prototypes and products.
A key aspect of the Design and Technology curriculum is the understanding that products don’t just get made. Instead, they go through a design process that includes three key elements: evaluate, design and make. Think of this process as a cycle. For example, Sphere Motors want to create a new family car. Before the car is made, they need to evaluate existing products and talk to customers so that they’re clear about what the new car needs to have. They will then design the car and evaluate those designs. They may make a prototype of the car to help them evaluate the designs. Next, they’ll decide on a final design that will go into production and get made. This finished product will be evaluated and the whole process starts again.
Years 1 and 2 children will be designing, making and evaluating different structures and in doing so, learning about how structures can be strengthened and made more stable. They’ll evaluate real life structures like bridges and towers which will inform their designs.
Years 3,4 children will be creating a prototype of a go-kart using a construction system called TechCard. They’ll evaluate existing products before designing, building, testing and evaluating their own. We will even try to incorporate electric circuits into our designs to power the go-karts.
Years 5,6 children have been set a tricky task of creating a vehicle that can transport an egg (specific tests will be determined by the children) without it breaking. They’ll be using a range of tools (including saws, hammers, drills) to make their product.
In addition to this, children will learn a little about key inventions and designers through history.
Read our Curriculum Statement. On page 17, you’ll find the age-related expectations for the topic. The vocabulary that your child will learn is here:
Years 1 and 2
- design: a plan or drawing showing what something will look like before it is made
- design criteria: the things a product must have to be successful
- design brief: a description of what a new product should do
- base: the bottom part of an object; the part on which something rests
- to evaluate: to decide, after careful consideration, how good or bad something is
- structure: a combination of materials and/or parts to create a 3d shape
- stable: something that is unlikely to fall down or collapse
- freestanding: something that stands up by itself
- to plan: to think about and decide how you’re going to do something
Years 3 and 4
- product: something that is designed and made to be sold
- function: the purpose of something
- design process: the series of steps that need to happen for a product to go from an idea to a finished product
- design criteria: the precise features a product must have in order to be successful
- prototype: an early sample or model of a product used to evaluate a design
- component: a part that combines with other parts to make something eg a machine or a piece of equipment
- annotated sketch: a detailed sketch labelled with notes (eg dimensions, materials)
- exploded diagram: a drawing that shows the individual components or parts of a product and how they fit together
- mechanism: a number of parts or components working together, usually as part of a machine
Years 5 and 6
- design process: the series of steps that need to happen for a product to go from an idea to a finished product
- design criteria: the precise features a product must have in order to be successful
- cross-sectional diagram: a drawing which ‘slices through’ an object to see some of the features inside
- computer-aided design (CAD): a way of drawing on a computer to visualise designs and simulating them to see how they work
- innovative: an adjective to describe a new or original idea about how something can be done
- sustainable material: obtained from renewable sources and do not damage the environment when produced
- dimensions: measurement of something in a particular direction, eg height, length, width
- aesthetic: something about the appearance
- to reinforce: to strengthen or support
Survey
Don’t forget to spend just a few minutes completing this year’s annual survey. We’re always keen to hear your views. Although we can’t guarantee that we can act on every point raised, we do closely consider all the survey results.
The survey’s open until Wednesday 30 June.
Last week’s message ended with talk of ice-cream and sunny weather over the weekend. This weekend looks like being a bit different to that – have a good one, all the same.