Ashby School — A Design & Technology workbook covering all five rotations in one book

The brief

Ashby School came to us for a single Design & Technology workbook that would follow students through every rotation of the carousel — Food Tech, Engineering, Product Design, Electronics and Textiles — rather than five separate books that get lost between teachers.
The department wanted the same iterative design process visible in every rotation, the same learning expectations on the inside cover, and the same WWW/EBI reflection at the end of every project. One book, five teachers, one set of routines.

What we designed

Working with the D&T department, we built a 68-page workbook structured around the rotation system, with each rotation opening the same way — a learning overview, a keyword glossary, and a "Do it now" starter spread.
• A cover with the Ashby School "Empowered to Learn" logo, a "This book belongs to" and form panel, and a Teachers block with named slots for Food Technology, Textiles, Engineering, Product Design and Electronics — so the student knows who marks what.
• A learning expectations page paired with the iterative design process on the opposite side, setting the same six classroom expectations across every rotation.
• Food Technology pages covering health and safety, the bridge and claw method, washing up routines with a word bank, kitchen equipment identification, the Eatwell Guide, food provenance (Red Tractor, Soil Association, Fairtrade, Assured Food Standards), seasonal menus and a Cake Jar design/redesign/evaluation sequence.
• Engineering pages built around an emergency-response brief — a 100mm valley to bridge, a contoured map page, mind map and specification, triangulation investigation, initial and developed ideas, a planning-to-make sheet and a team testing record.
• Product Design pages covering anthropometrics with face measurements for party glasses, a class bar chart for hand widths, biomimicry-led car design ideas, manufactured boards matching exercise, and a tools-and-equipment sign-off table — disk and belt sander, pillar drill, strip heater, soldering iron, vacuum former — with date and teacher signature columns.
• Electronics pages covering input/output/process/conductive sorting, thermoplastic vs thermosetting, soldering health and safety, LED rules, fixed resistor circuits, and a full night-light project from brief through market research, specification, image board, four design ideas and evaluation.
• A repeating WWW / EBI reflection block at the end of every rotation, so students review garlic noodle boxes, the temporary bridge, the downhill racer and the night light using the same two prompts.

The finished book

The 68-page workbook now sits with every Key Stage 3 D&T student at Ashby across the full carousel — one book passed between teachers as students rotate through Food Tech, Engineering, Product Design, Electronics and Textiles, with the iterative design process and WWW/EBI reflection in the same place in every rotation.