Design and Technology (DT)

Riddlesden St Mary's Design and Technology (DT) lead is Mrs Armitage (year 5 teacher).

I myself have a love of designing and creating something that is fit for purpose. I enjoy teaching DT because it allows me to foster creativity and problem-solving skills in our student. Teaching this subject not only allows me to share my passion for design but also enables me to inspire the next generation of thinkers and makers.

DT at RSM

Design and Technology gives children the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and understanding of designing and making functional products. At RSM we feel it is vital to nurture creativity and innovation through design, and by exploring the designed and made world in which we all live and work.

At RSM we have ensured that Design and Technology helps to teach Maths and English as well as other subjects on the curriculum in a fun and inspiring manner and put these subjects into context.

DT progression document

rsm dt prgression document 2.pdf

DT after school club

In Autumn 1 we had a DT after school club with children from year 1 through to year 6. The focus of the after school club was tie-dying fabric and clothing. We started off by looking at tie-dye products that are already available and we thought about which ones we liked and which designs/colours we liked.

Once we had chosen the design that we wanted we decided to test it on pillowcases first before we started our clothing. We used the Ipads to help us with how to roll/fold our fabric to get the desired effect we wanted.

Here is how the pillowcases turned out! We were so happy with them!

Now that we had tested our designs on pillowcases we were ready to tie-dye our t-shirts and socks. Some of us wanted our t-shirts and socks to match and some of us wanted them to be all different designs and colours.

Here are some of our t-shirts and socks when they were dry. We were so happy with how they looked and couldn't wait to wear them.

We had a non-uniform day at the end of Autumn 1 and some of the children from the DT after school club came into school wearing the t-shirt and socks that they had designed and dyed themselves!

DT enrichment week

In Autumn 2 we had a whole school DT enrichment week which we linked to Remembrance day. Each phase within school had a different DT focus.

Reception

In reception the children designed and baked their own poppy shaped biscuits and decorated them to look like a poppy. They weighed out the ingredients and mixed them together before cutting out the shape they needed and cooking them. They look fantastic and I know they tasted delicious too!

Year 1 and Year 2

In key stage 1 the children were given the opportunity to use their sewing skills to design and make their own fabric poppy. The children learnt all about the different coloured poppies that there are and why they have them. They also learnt how to do the running stitch which they needed to use to join their 2 pieces of fabric together. The children worked so hard on their cutting, threading and sewing skills.

Photos are coming soon!!

Year 3 and Year 4

In lower key stage 2 the children were given the opportunity to create their own woven basket and Anzac biscuits. the children started off by looking at woven products and evaluating them before they started practicing their paper weaving skills.

Once we had practiced these we then moved onto wefting and warping with wool. This took a lot of concentration and practice to get this bit right, but the results were amazing!

Then we learnt all about Anzac biscuits and why they were eaten. Once we had learnt about them we followed a recipe to make some of our own that would go in our completed woven baskets,

Here are some pictures showing our final products that we made! They look fantastic and a lot of hard work went into making these.

Year 5 and Year 6

In upper key stage 2 we linked our DT project with remembering the animals who served in the war. we were given the opportunity to make our own wooden horse puppets that had moving parts.

In year 5 we focus on World War 1 and in year 6 we focus on World War 2, so we thought this was quite fitting. We started off by looking at wooden puppets that we already being used and how they are put together, what materials they used, if they has moving parts and what tools might have been used to make them. We then designed what we wanted our horse puppets to look like as well as thinking about the tools we were going to use to help us.

Here are some pictures showing what we did.