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Important update from TheSchoolRun

For the past 13 years, TheSchoolRun has been run by a small team of mums working from home, dedicated to providing quality educational resources to primary school parents. Unfortunately, rising supplier costs and falling revenue have made it impossible for us to continue operating, and we’ve had to make the difficult decision to close. The good news: We’ve arranged for another educational provider to take over many of our resources. These will be hosted on a new portal, where the content will be updated and expanded to support your child’s learning.

What this means for subscribers:

  • Your subscription is still active, and for now, you can keep using the website as normal — just log in with your usual details to access all our articles and resources*.
  • In a few months, all resources will move to the new portal. You’ll continue to have access there until your subscription ends. We’ll send you full details nearer the time.
  • As a thank you for your support, we’ll also be sending you 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep.

A few changes to be aware of:

  • The Learning Journey weekly email has ended, but your child’s plan will still be updated on your dashboard each Monday. Just log in to see the recommended worksheets.
  • The 11+ weekly emails have now ended. We sent you all the remaining emails in the series at the end of March — please check your inbox (and spam folder) if you haven’t seen them. You can also follow the full programme here: 11+ Learning Journey.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for being part of our journey it’s been a privilege to support your family’s learning.

*If you need to reset your password, it will still work as usual. Please check your spam folder if the reset email doesn’t appear in your inbox.

Key Stage 3 design and technology explained

Compass
Find out about what your child will be doing in their KS3 design and technology classes and help them get ahead at home with our helpful tips.

In Key Stage 3 design and technology lessons, your child will be a lot more critical while thinking about, constructing and evaluating their designs using a wide range of materials, including textiles and food.

The Design Technology curriculum

DT lessons include a variety of creative and practical activities, all aimed at giving pupils  the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in the designing and making process. Their projects will be based on a range of domestic and local contexts (such as the home, health, leisure and culture), and industrial contexts (engineering, manufacturing, construction, food, energy, agriculture, horticulture and fashion).

There are four key elements to the KS3 DT curriculum:
 

  • Design includes identifying user needs, solving design problems, developing specifications that help them design innovative, functional and appealling products, and communicating their ideas through methods such as sketches, plans, 3D and mathematical modelling, oral and digital presentations and computer-based skills.
  • Make selecting from a range of materials, tools, techniques, processes and manufacture, including computer-aided design.
  • Evaluate involves analysing the work of past and present design professionals, investigating new and emerging technologies, testing, evaluating and refining their own ideas, and understanding how design and technology impacts on people, and the responsibilities of designers and engineers.
  • Technical knowledge includes understanding and using the properties of materials, understanding and using more advanced electrical and electronic systems, and using computing to make intelligent products using programmable components. 

Since 2014, cooking and nutrition has been a separate, compulsory part of the DT curriculum.

Pupils are taught to cook, and also to understand the principles of good nutrition and healthy eating. They're expected to learn to cook a repertoire of mainly savoury dishes, become competent in a range of cooking techniques, such as selecting and preparing ingredients and using utensils correctly, and understand the source, seasonality and characteristics of a wide range of ingredients.

Lesson examples

Here’s what your child might learn in class:

  • Year 7s learn about how evaluation informs the design of products. For example, they might explore how the choice of material can help control costs and how product development often responds to the demands of consumers, as with character toys.
     
  • ‘Pastry-wrapped sweet and savoury products suitable as a finger-foods' is the design brief given to pupils in Year 8. They discuss ingredients and processes that could be used for the product, explaining why they made particular choices. They then choose a recipe to prepare and cook in class.
     
  • A teacher disassembles a battery-powered hand-game to allow his class of Year 9 students to see and discuss the circuitry inside. He then shows the students what materials, components and equipment could be used to make their own games.

Help your child at home

  • How well does your child understand the healthy eating guidelines? Test their knowledge by getting them to prepare a simple meal that will encourage the whole family to eat more healthily. Ask them to explain the reasons for their choices.
     
  • Next time you’re out, notice the design considerations that have gone into the structure of different types of buildings, houses, bridges and shopping centres. Encourage your child to notice how the needs of those who use the buildings have helped to inform the design.
     
  • What's in your cupboards? Get your child to investigate the types of packaging used for products. How are folds, tucks, adhesives, thickness of materials, reinforcements, weight and finish used to affect performance?
     
  • Look at the labels from food products to see their nutritional content and claims. Encourage your child to think about the legislation and guidelines that restrict nutritional claims and what would happen if we did not have them?