Design and Technology

Intent

We aim to provide children with a DT education that is relevant in our rapidly changing world. We want to encourage our children to become problem solvers who can work creatively and collaboratively. We believe that high-quality DT lessons inspire children to think independently, develop creative and technical understanding which they can apply to wider contexts. Our DT curriculum provides children with opportunities to research, represent their ideas, explore and investigate, develop their ideas, make products and evaluate their work. Children will be exposed to a wide range of media including textiles, food and woodwork; through this, children will develop their skills, vocabulary and resilience.

Implementation

Children have access to key knowledge, language and meanings to understand Design Technology and to use these skills across the curriculum. In Design Technology children are asked to solve problems and develop their learning independently. This allows the children to have more ownership over their curriculum and lead their own learning in Design Technology. English, Maths and ICT skills are taught during discrete lessons but are revisited in Design Technology so children can apply and embed the skills they have learnt in a purposeful context. We are privileged to be following the IB PYP curriculum where children are encouraged to use attributes including being a thinker, knowledgeable reflective etc to support their learning alongside the national curriculum. Using a cross curricular approach through different transdisciplinary themes, children are able to call upon fundamental knowledge to design, create and celebrate new ideas. They are then given the opportunity to present and showcase how these work and how these can have an impact on the wider world.

Impact

Children will have clear enjoyment and confidence in design and technology that they will then apply to other areas of the curriculum. Children will ultimately know more, remember more and understand more about Design Technology, demonstrating this knowledge when using tools or skills in other areas of the curriculum and in opportunities out of school. As designers children will develop skills and attributes they can use beyond school and into adulthood.