Design and Technology
Design & Technology at Adswood Primary School
The Silk & Stone Curriculum: Grounded in Stockport – Connected to the World
At Adswood Primary School, our Design & Technology (D&T) curriculum forms an essential strand of our overarching Silk & Stone Curriculum. Named to honour Stockport’s dual heritage—the red sandstone foundations of our town and the pioneering silk mills that connected our community to global trade—our curriculum equips pupils to become the "Architects of the Future" who can design sustainable, equitable solutions for tomorrow's world.
Curriculum Intent: Disciplinary Excellence & Purposeful Design
We do not view D&T as disconnected craft activities; our scholars are apprenticed into Specialist Disciplinary Roles. In every unit, children tackle real-world design briefs as Junior Architects, Kinetic Engineers, Textiles Engineers, Artisan Chemists, and Eco Designers.
Our projects are anchored in our local heritage and landscape—from Bramall Hall and Quarry Bank Mill to the Stockport Viaduct and local artisan bakeries—giving pupils tangible, meaningful contexts for technological problem-solving. Across all year groups, sustainability and environmental stewardship are central responsibilities rather than standalone topics: pupils continually evaluate how material selection, repair, and circular design can regenerate our local and global environments.
How the Curriculum Works: Progression Across Key Stages
- Key Stage 1 (The Step-by-Step Scholar): Delivered in discrete year groups, KS1 builds a linear progression of logic. In Year 1 ('The Foundation'), scholars master static materials and basic fabrication—investigating timber-frame wattle and daub walls at Bramall Hall, assembling functional urban bird feeders, and preparing nutritious snacks. In Year 2 ('The System'), learning shifts to structural logic and working systems: constructing freestanding towers with standardisation and internal bracing, sewing 3D character puppets, and engineering linear slider mechanisms
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- Key Stage 2 (The Disciplinary Guild Model): In our mixed-age KS2 setting, we teach through a Disciplinary Guild Model that differentiates through the depth of agency rather than narrowing expectations. Younger scholars act as Lead Witnesses (mastering classification, components, and core techniques), while older scholars step forward as Expert Analysts and Strategists, leading structural investigations, peer-coaching, and complex systemic adaptations.
Progressive Technical Strands
Our D&T projects provide rigorous, hands-on coverage of all statutory National Curriculum domains:
- Structures & Architectural Engineering:
- Triangulation & Bracing: Testing wattle-and-daub timber framing in KS1 and building stable, freestanding "Whitworth Towers" using standard components and cylinders.
- Shell Structures & Topography: Transforming 2D nets into 3D pyramid shell structures using L-braces and 90-degree flanges, stacking additive clay strata for contour relief models, and constructing riverbank revetments using rip-rap stones and timber anchors to resist moving water.
- Scale Landmark Modelling: Designing 3D civic landmark models in Upper Key Stage 2 using slotted cardboard joinery, triangular bracing, and integrated renewable energy features.
- Mechanisms & Mechanical Systems:
- Sliders & Levers: Constructing precise linear slider tracks to demonstrate environmental adaptations.
- Pivots, Axles & Water Wheels: Creating rotating water wheels equipped with axles, pivots, and winches capable of lifting loads.
- Pulleys & Mechanical Advantage: Calculating force with Newton meters while engineering fixed and moveable heavy-lift pulley systems to overcome physical transport barriers.
- Textiles & Material Manipulation:
- Joining & Pattern Creation: Developing running stitch techniques to assemble 3D hand puppets.
- Textile Engineering & Appliqué: Assembling signal banners with pole sleeves/casings and thread appliqué, creating multi-layered wellbeing squares using backstitch and reinforced seams, and building reinforced protest banners supported by dowels.
- Glue-Free Mechanical Joining: In our "Trashion" unit, scholars re-engineer sorted municipal recycling into wearable accessories using slots, tabs, folds, and split pins.
- Electrical Systems:
- Logic, Circuits & Housing: Designing functional security alarms with integrated pressure switches, buzzers, series circuits, and protective external housings.
- Cooking & Nutrition:
- Nutritional Logic & Provenance: Preparing healthy athlete snacks while identifying basic food groups and ingredient origins in KS1.
- Nutritional Fortification: Creating fortified vegetable soups to analyse dietary requirements and historical deficiencies.
- Food Chemistry & Artisan Techniques: Partnering with local artisans to measure baker's percentages, knead and prove dough, and bake bread while examining irreversible chemical transformation.
Authentic Evaluation: The Stockport Soapbox
Evaluation in D&T goes far beyond a written worksheet. At the end of every unit, scholars present, test, and defend their functional prototypes during our Stockport Soapbox events. Presenting before authentic audiences—such as school governors, visiting engineers, and community panels—pupils deploy our Oracy Arches (Physical stance, Linguistic technical vocabulary, Cognitive justification, and Social engagement) to prove their products are robust, fit for purpose, and structurally sound.
