Design Technology

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Intent

At All Saints Primary, we are DESIGNERS and TECHNOLOGISTS! We want our children to love design and technology. We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and grow up wanting to be architects, graphic designers, chefs, or carpenters. Design and technology are creative and dynamic! It is our intention that our Design and Technology curriculum will allow our pupils to develop essential everyday skills, evaluate past and present design technology, its uses and effectiveness and unlock their potential to be the designers and innovators of tomorrow. The design and technology curriculum will encourage our children to learn, think, and intervene creatively to solve problems, both as an individual and as part of a team. Design and Technology will allow All Saints children to put their learning from other areas of the curriculum into practice and we will link work to enhance and deepen their understanding of those areas, including Maths, Computing, Science, and Art. We will fulfil the National Curriculum for design and technology and ensure the progressive development of knowledge and skills, building on previous learning, to ensure children’s learning becomes embedded and fully inclusive of every child. We will encourage our children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products within a variety of contexts, for example: analysis, problem solving, and practical capability and evaluations skills. Our children will learn about cooking, food and nutrition, ensuring that they gain the fundamental life skills in order to feed themselves and design healthy means independently, whilst learning about where our food comes from, making connections with their geographical and scientific knowledge. We want to equip them with not only the minimum statutory requirements of the Design and Technology and the National Curriculum, but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life beyond primary education.

Implementation

Teaching of Design and Technology will also follow the cycle of research, make an ultimate idea and then evaluate. Beginning with the purpose of a product for a user, our children are encouraged to use the exploration of existing products to gain first-hand experience of existing approaches. We aim to promote creative problem solvers, both as individuals and as part of a team, and pupils develop their understanding of how people in the past and present have used design to meet their needs. Then our children will design and make quality products using a range of tools, materials, and components, make connections with their learning across the curriculum including in maths, computing, science, and art and reflect on and evaluate techniques using subject-specific vocabulary. Teachers follow an obvious progression of skills, which ensures all pupils are challenged in -line with their year group expectations and given the opportunity to build on their prior knowledge. Our assessment informs future practice. In the children’s design and technology, books will show evidence of how they research a product, developed their design ideas, initial sketches to show a showcase of learned skills. Each stage should be rooted in technical knowledge and vocabulary. The design process should be rooted in real-life, relevant contexts to give meaning to learning. During the making stage, children should be given the choice to a range of tools to choose freely from. Our children should be able to evaluate their own and their peers’ products against a design criteria. Each of these steps should be taught at a high standard, where each of the stages should be given equal weight. Our children’s work should also show progression and cross-curricular links.

EYFS

Through Expressive Arts children are encouraged to construct and create purposefully selecting tools and techniques needed to shape, assemble and join materials they are using. Children learn through first-hand experiences which involve putting their ideas into practice to develop awareness and understanding of the possibilities and limitations of different materials. Teachers encourage children to explore, observe, solve problems, think critically, decide and talk about why they have made their decisions as they design and create. Children’s natural creativity is fostered and opportunities for investigation, designing and making are offered daily within our provision, which enables children to learn a great deal about their world.

Impact

The impact of our Design and Technology curriculum is in the development of our children being able to approach problems creatively and in a range of ways, applying their knowledge from across the curriculum areas independently. By providing a range of contexts and the skills, we endeavour to support pupils in their future educational journey and in the understanding of the ever-developing world around them. The skills and attributes they develop will benefit them beyond school and into adulthood: the ability to use time efficiently, work with others productively, show initiative, independence, resilience and manage risks effectively will ensure well-rounded citizens who will make a difference in the wider world. Design and Technology is an ongoing monitoring of children’s understanding, knowledge and skills by the class teacher, throughout lessons. Through the use of a term assessment, we ensure that children who are achieving well, as well as those who need additional support, are identified and additional provision and strategies are planned in and discussed with class teachers. We expect the children to know more, remember more and understand more about Design and Technology.

In addition, Design and Technology will provide opportunities for our children to engage in activities that are challenging, relevant and motivating. This should give our children enjoyment, satisfaction, and a sense of purpose in other areas of the curriculum and in opportunities out of school.

Subject Overview - Design and Technology Curricular Plan 2023-2024

DT units to be taught throughout the year and linked to topic covered or important events.