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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.

The primary design and technology curriculum

Scissors in classroom
Is your child a budding designer? We take a look at what design and technology lessons involve.

The primary design and technology curriculum invites children to investigate how well familiar products meet the needs of those who use them. They learn how people's needs (whether imagined or real) drive new designs and how things are designed.

Unlike other national curriculum subjects, in design and technology lessons children are encouraged to apply their own ideas practically - designing and making them. They then ask how well the product works or how it could be improved. So it gives children a significant degree of autonomy and control, which is probably why most children enjoy the subject.

Cross-curricular design and technology

Because the subject is about ‘material culture - products, places and images', design and technology touches practically every area of the curriculum.

This means your child will apply knowledge and understanding gained in other lessons (science, mathematics, history and so forth). They will also work with a wide variety of materials and ingredients (textiles, mechanical parts, food stuffs, wood, plastics and ICT).

The subject also offers an opportunity for children to think about the environment and the impact of different designs on it.

 

Given the nature of subject and the tools and materials children work with, health and safety obviously plays a major role in teaching, too.

Teachers must carry out a risk assessment as part of lesson preparation by considering the materials, tools and equipment being used. During food technology, general hygiene will be taught, such as ensuring surfaces and hands are clean, as well as safety issues when storing and preparing different types of foods or using a cooker.

In textiles or woodwork, the teacher may observe pupils' safe use of a sewing machine or drill and then present them with a certificate to prove aptitude.

What children learn

Design and technology offers opportunities for children to:

  • learn designing and making skills
  • build up their capability to create high quality products through combining their designing and making skills with knowledge and understanding
  • nurture creativity and innovation
  • explore values about and attitudes to the made world and how we live and work within it
  • develop an understanding of technological processes, products and their contribution to our society.