Designing For SEMH: Teaching D&T With Care

About this episode

Ailis Brown discusses how to teach Design and Technology in a specialist SEMH school with a focus on safety and trust.

Send me a message. A noisy workshop can feel like a storm, but what if the path to learning starts with rhythm, not rush? We sit down with D&T teacher Ailis Brown from a specialist SEMH school in Leeds to unpack how safety, trust, and regulation turn short lessons into meaningful progress. From clocks and board games to careful joinery, Ailis shows how a flexible bank of projects meets pupils where they are and gently moves them forward. We compare mainstream pressures with the reality o...

People in this episode

Host: Dr Alison Hardy

Guest: Ailis Brown

Topics covered

• SEMH
• D&T education
• trust in learning
• flexible projects
• mainstream pressures

Keywords

• SEMH
• D&T
• education
• trust
• learning
• projects
• Leeds

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: specialist SEMH school

Places: Leeds

More episodes of Talking D&T

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• Making Confident Design And Technology Curriculum Decisions Without Guesswork · May 11, 2026 · 16 min
• The Evidence Gap In D&T Curriculum Decisions · April 27, 2026 · 19 min
• What Changes When We Design D&T For Access · April 20, 2026 · 45 min
• Drafting Curricula By Day, Walking Kip By Night · April 13, 2026 · 13 min
• How A Senior Leader Put D&T At The Heart Of Three SEMH Schools · November 18, 2025 · 27 min