Design Technology
Design Technology (DT) education involves two important elements - learning about how things work and learning to design and make functional products for particular purposes and users. At Black Torrington children will use their creativity and imagination to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values.
Children acquire and apply knowledge and understanding of materials and components, mechanisms and control systems, structures, existing products, quality and health and safety. The skills learned in DT also help with learning across the curriculum.
Design and Technology education helps develop children’s skills through collaborative working and problem-solving. They are encouraged to be creative and innovative, and are actively encouraged to think about important issues such as sustainability.
The Design and technology national curriculum outlines the three main stages of the design process: design, make and evaluate. Each stage of the design process is underpinned by technical knowledge which encompasses the contextual, historical and technical understanding require for each strand. Cooking and nutrition has a separate section, with a focus on specific principles, skills and techniques in food, including where food comes from, diet and seasonality.
The national curriculum organises the Design and technology attainment targets under five subheadings or strands: design, make evaluate, technical knowledge and cooking and nutrition.
The scheme of work (Kapow Primary) has a clear progression of skills and knowledge with these five strands across each year group.
The curriculum overview shows which of our units cover each of the national curriculum attainment targets as well as each of the five strands.
Through the scheme of work, pupils respond to design briefs and scenarios that require consideration of the need of others, developing their skills in 4 key areas: Mechanisms, structures, textiles, cooking and nutrition. Key stage 2 also develops skills in electrical systems and digital world to help meet the National curriculum objectives.
Each of the key areas follow the National curriculum design process (design, make and evaluate) and has a particular theme and focus from the technical knowledge or cooking and nutrition section of the curriculum. The scheme of work is a spiral curriculum, with key areas revisited again and again with increasing complexity, allowing, pupils to revisit and build on their previous learning.
Lessons incorporate a range of teaching stratagies from independent tasks, paired and group work including practical hands on, computer-based and inventive tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.
Within the school, each year group is taught three modules each year that enable to meet the national curriculum objectives. These modules are taught by a dedicated teacher who has strong subject knowledge and experience to ensure that pupils are able to achieve the objectives of each module. Every class is provided with 45 minutes a week within the weekly timetable to ensure that they have sufficient time to complete the modules and achieve the objectives.
The school provides a range of equipment and resources that provide the children with the opportunity to explore techniques and materials through practical means.
As a school we aim to raise the profile of design and technology by promoting the work that all the pupils have created. We do this in a variety of ways such as displaying work within the grounds of the school, sharing pupils work via social media and our newsletter and allowing children to take home finished work to show and use at home.
Finally, we aim to, wherever possible, link work to other disciplines such as English, mathematics, science, computing, art and the wider curriculum topics.
The impact of the scheme of work can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Each lesson includes guidance to support teachers in assessing, pupils against the learning objectives. Furthermore, each unit has a unit quiz and knowledge organiser which can be used at the start and or end of the unit.
In Design and technology, as in all subjects, we are adamant that children who are at risk of underachieving have their needs skillfully and consistently met to protect them from this risk. The Design and technology curriculum at Black Torrington Primary School contributes towards this aim by encouraging children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection. The curriculum engages, inspires and challenges pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to design and create their own products.
After completion of the entire scheme of work, pupils should leave school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in the their secondary education and be innovative and resourceful members of society.