Children at William Austin Infant School develop key skills that include designing products, making products using a range of tools and evaluating products using their technical knowledge. They also learn about healthy eating, where food comes from and how to prepare different foods.

Year R

In Year R children use a variety of joining and construction toys to build and create models. Activities include developing sewing skills to make a Christmas calendar. Children use junk modelling to learn the best way to join different materials together. Year R children get the opportunity to work with a wide range of materials such as using vegetables to print and using different materials for weaving. There are many opportunities to continue their exploration outside. 

Year 1

Children in Year 1 are provided with opportunities to build upon the skills fostered in Year R. In Year 1 children build on their skills of joining different materials together and exploring how products can be made using the materials. Children here have the opportunity to design, make and evaluate their own pencil cases and clay pots. Children also have opportunities to make a pizza. They explore where the different foods come from and use the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet to make the pizza.

Year 2

In Year 2 children continue to design, make and evaluate products. As part of our topic about The Gambia children learn about the different fruits that are grown there. They are then given the opportunity to taste these fruit and choose which ones to use in a fruit salad. Children are given the opportunity to explore wheels and axels and then use the mechanism to create vehicles as part of our seaside topic. As part of our Roald Dahl topic children learn about toys and different mechanisms. Children then choose to make a hand or pop up puppet based on characters from the stories.