Design and Technology
Design and Technology
Intent
At Sandbach Primary, we want children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts. Children receive a design and technology curriculum which inspires and allows them to exercise their creativity practically, through designing, making and evaluating. Design and technology is a motivating, precise and practical subject that encourages children to learn to think and intervene creatively to solve problems imaginatively, both as individuals and as members of a team. Pupils are encouraged to be inventive whilst considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values in order to be resourceful, resilient, problem-solving citizens.
Design and Implementation
At Sandbach Primary, we teach a rolling program split into Year A and Year B, aligned to Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 and Upper Key Stage 2 objectives. Teaching of DT follows the design, make and evaluate cycle. The design process is fixed in real life and relevant contexts, to give greater depth to learning. Skills are taught progressively across key stage phases of Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 and Upper Key Stage 2, to ensure that all children are able to learn and add to their range of skills and progress as they move through the school. Our curriculum allows children to apply the knowledge and skills learned in other subjects, particularly Maths, Science and Art. Children also learn basic cooking skills and design and make dishes themselves. Children’s interests are engaged through theme learning, ensuring that links are made in a cross curricular way and to their own experiences, giving children motivation and meaning behind their learning.
Our curriculum is designed to:
- Equip our pupils with the skills and technical knowledge required within each aspect of the iterative designing and making process.
- Enable children to become successful designers, makers and evaluators.
- Induce curiosity and innovativeness and provide opportunities for the development of problem solving and risk taking through a range of contexts, often linked to daily aspects of life.
- encourage children to explore the significance of design and technology in our lives by learning about the designed and made world and how things work within it.
- allow children time to critique, evaluate and test their ideas, proto-types and products, and those of their peers, in a constructive and meaningful way.
- provide children with opportunities to explore and understand the key principles of nutrition and healthy eating whilst learning how to cook in a hygienic and safe environment.
- Give children the ability to manage risks exceptionally well to manufacture products safely and hygienically.
- Instil a passion for designing and creating.
We implement our curriculum by providing a range of creative and practical activities, through which we teach the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an interactive process of designing and making:
Design – use research and develop design criteria to design for a purpose and communicate their ideas through a range of mediums.
Make – use a wider range of tools and equipment with accuracy and use a wider range of materials and components according to their qualities.
Evaluate – evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work.
We aim to implement our intent by;
- Ensuring children’s design and technology knowledge and skills are built upon progressively each year.
- maintaining a high level of skill and subject knowledge of design and technology in our school, through regular sharing of expertise, training and professional development for class teachers and the subject lead
- Ensuring design and technology tools and resources are sufficient, adequate, engaging and relevant to the learning
- The subject lead monitoring and providing feedback on teaching, planning and children’s progress, interest and engagement
- Keeping SLT and governors up to date with developments in computing with subject reports, action plans and review meetings
- Conducting efficient, regular and effective assessments to inform future learning, with opportunities for moderation with colleagues.
At Sandbach Primary Academy, design and technology lessons are planned and taught by teachers, supplemented by projects and a scheme of work produced by The Design & Technology Association. This means that teachers are guided and supported in their planning and delivery of the DT curriculum objectives and outcomes, and to ensure progression of skills. Design and technology is taught to a high standard, where each of the design stages in the process are given equal weight. The key skills we teach the children are in the areas of sewing and textiles, cooking and nutrition, electrical and mechanical components and using materials. DT is usually taught in blocks of learning over a one-week period, but can also be taught weekly, depending on the links, themes and desired outcomes.
During lessons, children are taught to combine their designing, making and analytical skills with knowledge and understanding in order to design and make a product. The lesson sequence starts with a design brief or problem linked to a cross curricular theme. Children then are taught to research existing solutions before developing their own designs, using annotated sketches. Children produce at least three initial designs and apply their critical thinking skills to choose the most suitable. While making, children are given choice and a range of tools to choose from freely, appropriate to age and expectations. They consider which materials are best fit for purpose and begin by making models and prototypes. Following on from designing and making their products, they evaluate them by analysing and critiquing their own creations, as well as testing and solving any issues, through using their own ideas and collaboratively sharing feedback. To evaluate, children analyse and critique their own and their peers’ products against the design brief.
The long term plan shows design and technology learning at Sandbach Primary Academy to be progressive, where our pupils acquire specific technical knowledge that is built upon year by year. We are confident that our curriculum raises the profile of design and technology for our pupils which they can utilise and apply in the modern world in which they live.