Design & Technology

Statement of Intent - To what do we aspire for our children?

At Christ Church, we aim to provide a Design and technology curriculum that inspires children to design and make products that address real problems in a range of contexts. Children will create and communicate the purpose of the products they design and create, so that they become resourceful and enterprising and understand the impact of design and technology on their own lives and the lives of others.

Our Design Technology curriculum will:

embed powerful knowledge via tailored schemes of work
foster an appreciation and understanding of different forms of Design and Technology
be broad, allowing children to demonstrate their creative, technical and practical expertise, drawing on a range of knowledge from other subjects
allow children to develop the skills they need to create products to perform one or more defined tasks
provide enriching opportunities to progressively build and refine key skills, techniques, tools and vocabulary

It is our aim at Christ Church Primary School to develop and encourage children to:

focus on creating designs with a purpose with a clear 'customer' in mind
take risks and to solve problems within engaging contexts
support children to make informed judgements that build on previous work and achievements
nurture a sense of independence
enable children to make products that address real problems

Implementation - How will we deliver the curriculum?

The choices we have made within our Design Technology curriculum will enable children to draw upon their knowledge from a range of subjects - science, maths, history, computing and art - whilst still ensuring that the teaching and learning of the Design Technology curriculum is authentic. Children develop basic skills in designing and making. Alongside this, children learn important skills of critiquing, both their own work and that of others. Our curriculum will expose children to specific designers, chefs, nutritionists, engineers etc. helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement and increase the cultural capital from which they can draw in the future.

Our curriculum progression begins in EYFS with a focus on manipulating materials to achieve a planned effect and constructing with a purpose in mind, using a variety of resources and using simple tools and techniques competently and appropriately, adapting work where necessary. They select tools and techniques needed to shape, assemble and join materials they are using. They use familiar objects and common shapes to create and recreate patterns and build models. They handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control. They show understanding of the need for safety when tackling new challenges and consider and manage some risks. They show understanding of how to transport and store equipment safely and practice some appropriate safety measures without direct supervision.

In Key Stage One and Key Stage Two, we follow the National Curriculum and use the planning units from data.org to support teaching and learning. We have sequenced the subject content to best suit the needs of our children and to compliment effective learning strategies. Alongside this, we have developed a progression of skills to support teaching and learning.

Every Design and Technology project includes the six principles of 'user', 'purpose', 'function', 'authenticity', 'design decisions' and 'innovation' to shape the journey towards creating each end product. In every Key Stage, children will explore all areas of Design and Technology, covering mechanisms or mechanical systems, textiles, structures and food. In addition, at Key Stage Two, children will take part in generating designs that incorporate electrical systems and use computing to program, monitor and control their products. It develops a solid understanding of the full design process as well as progressively building on the fundamental skills of art and design.

Timetabling of Design and Technology lessons is kept flexible, allowing teachers to choose the most appropriate structure for that unit, or group of children. As such, Design Technology can be taught once a week, or as a full week block per term, depending on the skills and topic studied. Where a unit is taught in a single block, children are given the opportunity to revisit skills in later units to ensure knowledge is embedded. Each unit is given the same importance, and at least 6 sessions of focussed teaching and study during the term. Design and technology is alternated with Art and Design each term.

We recognise the vital role that oracy plays in the lives of our children, both during their time in primary school and for the rest of their lives. Research shows that oracy not only acts as a powerful tool for learning, but is a key skill in itself which employers actively seek. By ensuring that children have explicit opportunities to develop their oracy skills as well as opportunities to learn through oracy across the curriculum, we aspire to create young adults who are able to work confidently, articulately and collaboratively.

We promote oracy through Design and Technology by teaching vocabulary and oracy structures that allows the children to design, make, evaluate and share their ideas.

Impact:

Our Design and Technology curriculum enables and encourages our children to become critical thinkers. Children are always keen to learn new skills and work hard to perfect those shown to them. Through carefully planned and implemented learning activities the pupils develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.

Assessment

Assessment of Design and Technology at Christ Church will:

be formative, informing planning and how to best deliver further teaching
focus on ensuring the learning of the National Curriculum statements through children's responses to retrieval tasks and in books
draw on planning and knowledge organisers to understand the progress that has been made by children
provide quality responses (verbally and written, if required) to children, ensuring all knowledge is firmly embedded
identify children who require addition support and those who excel in the knowledge, skills and understanding required of a specialist in Design and Technology (through identifying these children it is assumed that all others - have achieved the objectives at the level expected of their year group)