Design & Technology Subject Leader - Sam Joseph

email josephs@ojs.rklt.co.uk

Vision for Design and Technology at OJS

‘The achievement of one goal should be the starting point of another’. (Alexander Graham Bell - scientist, inventor, engineer, and innovator who patented the first practical telephone)

At Oatlands Junior School, Design and Technology gives children the opportunity to develop a broad range of skills and knowledge through an exciting range of projects which focus on design, structures, mechanisms, electrical control and a range of materials, including food. As a school we aim to nurture creativity and innovation in Design and Technology looking at its contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation inspiring future aspirations.

What pupils at OJS think about Design and Technology

'I like being creative.'

'I like designing and making things.'

'I like sewing.'

'I like Art and DT at OJS because I can get creative.'

'I enjoy designing my own Christmas decorations.'

'I like that you get to create a lot of different items.'

'I like that you get to make and create things that you can give to loved ones.'

DT (Food Technology) If You Are Absent Or Just Want To Learn More About Our Planet

Spring Term 2022

We are missing you.  Please complete your homework which is being handed out this week only if you are feeling well. If you are absent this week, this will be in with your class pack.

If you wish to learn more, with your adult why not have a look at the amazing website created by the World Wildlife Fund, where you will find quizzes and information about our planet for all ages.  There are some wonderful activities that you could choose from on the following link to complete with your family looking at food and waste.  Healthy food for a heathy planet.

www.wwf.org.uk/get-involved/schools/resources/food-resources

Food Technology Spring 2

Children will be having food technology lessons, lower school are creating healthy vegan wraps and upper school are making vegan healthy biscuits for a healthy planet. Children will learn also about health and hygiene when preparing food. Please could you send the following items in a bag;

Lower school.

• Either a freshly washed t shirt or apron
• A small Tupperware box or plastic lidded container
• A plastic plate
• A grater
• A desert spoon

Upper School

• A plastic mixing bowl ( if you do not have one we have spares)
• A spoon to stir with
• A tea towel
• Apron or t shirt
• A rolling pin ( if you do not have one we have a few spares)
• Scales ( only if you have a small or portable plastic one) 
• Parchment baking paper.
• If your child has long hair they will need a hair tie.
• For Upper School as we may not be able to bake the biscuits in school please can you bake the biscuits at home with your child. A slip of paper will be sent with your child with baking information and a tasting evaluation for the whole household.  

Timetable Dates for your child's Food Tech lesson.

Macaws (completed)

Falcons Tuesday 1 March

Flamingos Wednesday 2nd March 2022

Foxes Thursday 3rd March

Tigers Monday 7th March

Snow Leopards Tuesday 8th March

Cheetahs  Wednesday 9th March

Owls - Thursday 10th March

Lemurs Monday 14 March

Grizzly Bears 15 March Tuesday 

Meerkats Wednesday 16 March

Badgers Thursday 17 March

Spring Term 2022

THE HEALTHY FOOD, HEALTHY PLANET CHALLENGE. 

In our Food Technology lessons we have been finding out about where our food comes from, food waste, food production and how this can effect climate change.  Our homework made us think about how much food we waste, how much we could save. (Look out for our food waste challenge in the Summer Term.

We also discussed and learnt about the following:

• Food Waste and suggestions on what we can do to help as an individual
• Food production and climate change
• Fairtrade, Red Tractor, and other ethical labels in food production
• Sustainability including MSC (applied to wild fish and seafood)
• Buying locally
• Finding out about, and respecting each others diet and the reasons why someone may have a special diet, including religous, medical or ethical.
• Finding out about being a Vegan, Vegeterian and Pescatarian and other diets.
• Seasonality
• Grow your own
• Free Range, organic
• Cost of being environmentally conscious (we found out through our research how some products may cost more and be to expensive). 
• A healthy balanced diet, revisiting the eatwell plate.
• Health and Hygiene in food preparation
• Working safetly preparing food

 
Upper School

Can we create a plain biscuit recipe which is for everyone to eat together.

• Healthy
• Doesn’t include animal fat
• Doesn’t include refined sugars
• Uses ingredients produced locally
• Uses ingredients from an ethical and sustainable source
• Has a low carbon footprint
• Is low in cost to make
• And finally must taste good.

The voted best tasting biscuit from each class will be on the website. Families we need your help if you know or are any local farmers or local producers to donate any of your produce for ingredients  please email Miss Joseph as we are also going to create a local directory with the biscuit recipes.

Lower School

can we create a wrap which is;

• Healthy
• Doesn’t include animal fat
• Includes an ingredient we can grow ourselves
• Doesn’t include refined sugars
• Uses ingredients produced locally
• Uses ingredients from an ethical and sustainable source
• Has a low carbon footprint
• Is low in cost to make
• And finally must taste good!

The voted best tasting wrap from each class will be on the website. Families we need your help if you know or are any local farmers or local producers to donate any of your produce for ingredients  please email Miss Joseph as we are also going to create a local directory with the wrap recipes.

Can’t  wait to see how Oatlands pupils step up to the challenge of being earth friendly conscious creators of inclusive tasty healthy recipes.

Miss Joseph

December 2021

Food Technology

Pupils across the school are learning about food linked to climate change and exploring ways we can help, including not to waste food, only buying what we need and locally from farm shops to support local farmers and really knowing where our food comes from.  Pupils looked at what fair trade, seasonality, sustainability means in the food industry. In upper school children looked at certain ingredients that are damaging to the planet, in particular palm oil if from an unsustainable source. We discovered a wonderful website by the World Wildlife Fund who have created resources for children, schools and parents, Learn To Love Nature, to find out more. www.wwf.org.uk/learn/love-nature

Next term children in lower school will be creating a food wrap that is healthy and friendly to the earth where our ingredients will be ethically, sustainably and locally sourced. Upper school will develop a biscuit which is low in sugar and saturated fats and again ethically, sustainably and locally sourced.  Can we create a healthy tasty treat?

Miss Joseph

2018 - 2019

Knaresborough Bed Race 

All classes used their D.T. skills to design and create a flower for the bed for the Knaresborough Bed Race parade. These flowers were then assembled onto the bed to represent the Yorkshire Dales, for the theme 'Celebrating Yorkshire'. Arts Club worked really hard after school to paint and add the finishing touches to the bed. Well done everyone, a great whole-school effort! 
 

Helen Tanner and Sam Joseph

Building Flood-Resistant Houses in Upper School

In Year 5 and 6, children have been designing and creating flood-resistant houses linked to our Geography topic on Climate Change. The children researched the charity, Practical Action, to find out about what they do and how they help people around the world. Using everyday materials in replacement of building materials, the children designed their homes, thinking about the costings, whether it would be environmentally friendly and whether it would be able to withstand a flood. Children in Year 6 have already created their designs and tested them to see if they fit the design criteria. 
 

Miss Tanner

Lower School French Week

Upper School Eye Models 

Upper school have been using their D.T. skills in their Light topic in Science. Year 5 and 6 created a model of an eye to label the different parts and learn about how we see.

Miss Tanner

D.T. Textiles Club

A big thank you to Mrs Neligan for running an excellent after-school club for children in Year 5 and 6! The children got to use their textiles skills from their Make Do and Mend projects before Christmas to design and create their own projects to make. They made their own pattern pieces and used different sewing techniques to create their designs out of felt. 
 

Miss Tanner

Lower School - Christmas Decorations

Lower School have been busy in their D.T. lessons this term using their sewing skills to design and create a Christmas decoration that can hang on a tree. After researching existing products, they used their ideas to design an appealing Christmas decoration. They used felt to create their design and used different sewing techniques and types of stitches to make their finished products.

Miss Tanner

Upper School - Make Do and Mend

Upper School have been given a design brief to design and create a bag using an item of old clothing or material, linked to our World War Two theme. After learning about clothes rationing and what Make Do and Mend is, we researched existing products and designers who create items using recycled material. We then designed our own bags using our research and thinking about our target audience. 

We have learned how to use and experimented with different types of stitches including running stitch, back stitch and whip stitch. We have worked really hard to use these skills to make our own bags which look fantastic! 

Here are some examples of the work we have done during the design process: 

Miss Tanner

Designing Christmas Felt Decorations

In Owls we have been researching ideas to explore felt Christmas decoration products in our DT project.  Jemima kindly brought in to show us her wonderful felt decorations she made on a visit to the Lake District. We are hoping Jemima is going to help us with the sewing techniques needed for our project.

Miss Joseph

2017 - 2018

Our finished nightlights

Pupils created and developed their night lights using circuits to light them up. Pupils looked at how designers create products and methods used in the design process, from drawings to a prototype. Well done designers.

Miss Joseph

Creating circuits using LED lights.

Making night lights using recycled water bottles.

Designing Night Lights

Lower School have been given a design brief to design a night light for a child, they have been busy researching existing night lights on the market especially those by John Lewis. Children have found out there are many designs and that some night lights have different switches to control the lighting including that they may change colour. In discussion children talked about what they liked about certain night lights and why they might appeal to young children.  From looking at different lights children are now designing their own by creating a range of ideas.

Miss Joseph

Upper School - Structures Project 

Upper School have been busy in their DT lessons this term looking at structures and electrical controls to create buildings that will have a lighting system to create a model town. This project helps develop children’s skills and knowledge in design, materials, structures and electrical control and are encouraged to be creative and innovative.

Miss Joseph

Light-Up Houses

Children looked at different buildings in Harrogate then chose their favourite to recreate. Once the final designs were developed and materials lists ready, children were able to start constructing their building.

Working together in teams, wood was safely cut using saws for the frames, then attached together before the sides were designed for the buildings. Finally, the switch and circuits were designed and made by using our learning from Science to light the buildings up. The finished products were impressive!

Look at our class pages for Upper School to see more on our Structures project.

Nutritional Adviser Katie French Visits 3M and 3H

3M and 3H were treated to a visit by Nutritional Advisor Katie French (Beau’s Mum) on Tuesday as part of our DT project, It’s a Wrap. Katie talked about the importance of healthy eating and how a balanced diet with lots of fruit and vegetables can support our health, well being and give us more energy. A good example of a balanced meal was the traditional Christmas dinner which includes different food groups such as proteins, carbohydrates and vegetables. Katie talked with the children that sugar doesn’t help our bodies and recommended only a few pieces as a treat only! Drinking 8 glasses of water a day and avoiding fizzy sugary drinks would keep our bodies hydrated and our teeth healthy. Children had lots of questions about healthy eating.

Thank you for coming in and helping us learn about the importance of healthy eating.

Miss Joseph

Autumn Term 2017 Food Technology - It’s a Wrap

In Design and Technology children in Year 3&4 will be creating and designing their own healthy wrap inspired by a Mediterranean country. We have been learning about healthy eating and that a healthy diet is made up from a variety and balance of different foods and drink. We found out;

• that everyone should eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day

• how to name and sort foods into the five groups in The Eatwell Plate

• to be active and healthy, food and drink are needed to provide energy for the body.

Miss Joseph

Wrap Tasting

Preparing our Wraps.

SMSC

Cultural and Spiritual

We look at and sample a range of ingredients from different cultures as well as developing an understanding of the importance of healthy eating. We also understand dietary beliefs in religion, vegan and vegetarian choices and expand our creativity by exploring how ingredients from different cultures can be used in modern food. 

Mechanisms In Our Christmas Displays

Christmas displays 2017 not only have important messages of Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural with British Values of future hopes and wishes but are also interactive using mechanisms as part of Design and Technology.  Children learnt how to create levers which are combined with sliders to make lever and linkage mechanisms. We also looked at fixed and loose pivots using paper fasteners to create different types of levers for our boards.

Have a look on our class pages to see our Christmas displays.  
 

Miss Joseph

Details of Mechanisms

Summer Term 2017 Design Engineering Project - James Dyson

All children at Oatlands took part in the James Dyson Project, resources were kindly provided by the James Dyson Foundation including Dyson products.  The aim was to find out how to work as a design engineer and how good teamwork is essential for the success of solving a problem for existing products.  Children researched design engineer James Dyson and his innovative designs including the Dyson Vacuum and the Dyson Fan and how his development of cyclone technology changed everyday products. 
 

Miss Joseph