Design & Technology

Intent:

Our D.T curriculum is designed around children’s natural inquisitive nature by providing them with opportunities to investigate a range of different materials and solve problems. It builds on children’s prior learning, introduces new experiences and enables children to make connections between their skills, knowledge and concepts and work independently and collaborating with others.

Through the use of memorable first hand experiences, children will be able to practice and embed a range of skills to enable them to create a final finished product of which they are proud of.

Our core values provide a platform on which we have built our curriculum offer at Wadworth Primary School. Our Design and Technology curriculum is underpinned by our core values in the following ways:

• Persevering
  • To know that it is fine to make mistakes, when participating in a DT project, and to understand that mistakes are part of the process to reaching a high-quality outcome.
  • To develop the ability to stick with something, to continue working, re design and to re-evaluate, and most importantly - to never give up.
  • To understand the perseverance and dedication that is needed to work successfully in D&T and to see a project turn from a design into a real-life model.
• Problem solving
  • To do their best work and then to push themselves beyond what they consider to be their best.
  • To develop a desire to achieve something and to make a design come to life.
• Independence
  • To develop confident learners, who understand that Design and Technology is a process that requires constant attention to detail.
  • To develop resilient designers who have the confidence to think and overcome issues independently.
• Being attentive (listening)
  • Acquire skills through listening to others.
  • Listening to advice on how to improve the product.
• Communicating
  • Being able to talk about their learning and share their opinions about products made by others.
  • Being evaluative and being able to articulate what they have done and what they intend to do next.
• Collaborating
  • To respect the work of others and work together to produce collaborative pieces.
  • To support others with a skill you are confident in already.

Beyond the Subject:

We would like our Design and Technology curriculum to help children to:

• Think creatively in all aspects of life
• See the world from different perspectives
• Increase their empathy
• Observe and look closer at the world around them
• See design connections in the world

Implementation:

Our Design and Technology curriculum has been designed to cover all of the skills set out in the EYFS and the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum states that ‘Design and technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject.’ Through a variety of creative activities, we teach the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. The children work in a range of relevant contexts (for example home, school, leisure, culture, enterprise, industry and the wider environment). Design and Technology lessons are taught through topic links across the term.

When designing and making, the children are taught to:

Design

• Use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups
• Generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design

Make

• Select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks (for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing) accurately
• Select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities

Evaluate

• Investigate and analyse a range of existing products
• Evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work
• Understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world

Technical Knowledge

• Apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures
• Understand and use mechanical systems in their products 

National Baking Week

To celebrate ‘National Baking Week’, every child was given the opportunity to bake in school. They made biscuits and chocolate concrete and it looked and tasted delicious. The children learned many new skills linked to Design and Technology and Mathematics. Many thanks to Mrs Vaughan and Catherine (William’s mum – Squirrels) for helping make this activity possible for all of the children.