D&T Safety Partnership
A structured, year-round approach to workshop safety
Instead of arranging isolated training days under pressure, your department works to a planned programme with agreed dates and predictable costs.
Schools often only address workshop safety once a concern has already arisen, leading to training arranged at short notice, disruption to teaching, and unplanned costs. The D&T Safety Partnership is designed as a more structured alternative: a planned programme across the year, rather than a series of reactive one-off visits.
Training delivered through the partnership is always linked to real classroom practice. By understanding the projects your department runs and the schemes of work you teach, sessions can focus on the specific machines, tools and processes your pupils actually use, and can extend beyond safety training to cover new specifications, staff transitions, or equipment maintenance as needed.
1. Choose your focus
The partnership is tailored to your department’s priorities
Pick one focus area, or a blend that fits where your department is right now.
H&S and maintenance
A rolling schedule of staff training alongside workshop checks and planned maintenance.
Art to D&T transition
Support for teachers moving into workshop-based teaching, with safety training linked to the projects they'll deliver.
D&T to 3D Design transition
Support for departments moving toward a 3D Design route, keeping safe practice embedded as teaching and assessment change.
New Head of Department support
Practical help putting robust systems in place: risk assessment routines, staff competence tracking and workshop organisation.
2. A planned annual schedule
A predictable cycle across the school year
Summer term — final two weeks
Two days of H&S or CPD
Used to build staff confidence before the summer break and prepare for changes to projects, staffing or workshop routines ahead of the new year, including targeted training for staff transitioning into D&T or 3D workshop practice.
Summer holiday — start
Safety audit
A clear snapshot of current workshop practice, used to set priorities for the year ahead and flag anything that needs addressing before students return.
Summer holiday
Workshop maintenance
Machines are checked and adjusted without disrupting teaching, linked where useful to the findings of the audit so issues are resolved while the workshop is quiet.
Autumn term — final week
One day of H&S or CPD
A mid-year check-in: refreshing safe working routines, addressing new staff needs, or tightening practice once the year is underway.
Spring term — final week
One day of H&S or CPD
A spring review point, supporting consistency and confidence, and a good time to refine paperwork and supervision ahead of summer practical assessment deadlines.
3. Training that links directly to teaching
Built around what your department actually does
Where the partnership includes CPD, it is shaped around:
- The projects your department actually runs
- The machines and processes your pupils are using
- The way your department teaches and assesses practical work
Over time, this makes training more specific, more relevant, and far easier to embed than a generic, one-off session.
4. Discounted evening support
Alongside the scheduled days, partner schools get access to discounted evening consultancy throughout the year, ideal for the kind of quick question that doesn’t justify a whole day but still needs expert input: troubleshooting a routine, or targeted support with a specific machine or process.
5. Clear outcomes and documentation
What your department is left with
Rather than vague advice, the partnership leaves you with usable, evidenceable outputs.
6. Cost-effective by design
A planned alternative to reactive consultancy
When safety concerns arise unexpectedly, schools often end up booking several training days in quick succession, disruptive to teaching and hard to budget for. Planning support across the year lets departments spread training, review and maintenance in a manageable way, while avoiding last-minute intervention.
Because time is spent understanding how your department actually works, the projects taught, machines used and staff experience, each visit can focus on what genuinely needs attention rather than repeating generic guidance, making the programme more efficient as well as more affordable.