Intent

Design and Technology is an inspiring, rigorous  and practical subject. It can be found in many of the objects children use each day and is a part of children’s immediate experiences. Design and Technology encourages children to learn to think and intervene creatively to solve problems both as individuals and as members of a team.

At Appleton, we aim to provide all children with a broad and balanced curriculum which prepares them for life beyond primary education. We will fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for design and technology and ensure the progressive development of knowledge and skills which build on previous learning thereby ensuring pupils’ learning becomes embedded. Design and technology at Appleton will be fully inclusive to every child.

The Appleton Design and Technology curriculum combines skills, knowledge, concepts and values to enable children to tackle real and relevant problems. We encourage children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. It can improve analysis, problem solving, practical capability and evaluation skills. We aim to, wherever possible, link work to other disciplines such as mathematics, science, computing and art. The children are also given opportunities to reflect upon and evaluate past and present design technology, its uses and its effectiveness and are encouraged to become innovators and risk-takers.

The aims of teaching design and technology in our school are:

• Develop creative, technical and imaginative thinking in children and to develop confidence to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.
• Enable children to talk about how things work and to develop their technical knowledge,
• Apply a growing body of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make prototypes and products for a wide range of users,
• Encourage children to select appropriate tools and techniques when making a product, whilst following safe procedures,
• Develop an understanding of technological processes and products, their manufacture and their contribution to our society,
• Foster enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making things,
• Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products, and the work of others,
• Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and to learn how to cook,
• Understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world.

Implementation

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in design and technology, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school.  Teachers follow a clear progression of skills which ensures all pupils are challenged in line with their year group expectations and are given the opportunity to build on their prior knowledge.

At Appleton, Design and technology topics are blocked to allow children to focus on developing their knowledge and skills, studying each topic in depth. Each topic generally follows a Research- Design – Make – Evaluate  structure.

In KS1 children will undertake a mechanisms, structures, textiles and food topic each year, these will be continued in KS2 when children will also undertake an electrical systems and digital world topic.

Teachers plan lessons for their class using the Kapow primary scheme of work and our progression of knowledge and skills documents. Teachers use these documents to develop year group specific long-term curriculum maps which identify when the different topics will be taught across the academic year. The progression document ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills/knowledge taught is progressive from year group to year group.

All teaching of DT should follow the research, design, make and evaluate cycle. Each stage should be rooted in technical knowledge.  The design process should be rooted in real life, relevant contexts to give meaning to learning. While making, children should be given choice and a range of tools to choose freely from. To evaluate, children should be able to evaluate their own and their peers’ products against a design criteria. Each of these steps should be rooted in technical knowledge and vocabulary. DT should be taught to a high standard, where each of the stages should be given equal weight. There should be evidence in each of these stages in the DT books, which should also develop to show clear progression across the key stages.

Design and technology at Appleton will be fully inclusive to every child with work being tailored for children with SEND. Children will learn through similar activities with final outcomes modified to suit all needs.

In EYFS the essential building blocks of children’s design and technology capability are established. The children explore and use a variety of materials, tools and techniques through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities. They will begin to construct with a purpose in mind using a variety of resources using simple tools and techniques appropriately. They have opportunities to experiment with design, texture, form and function and adapt their work when necessary. The children will also share their creations explaining the process they have used.

Impact

The impact of children’s learning in Design Technology is an ongoing monitoring of children’s understanding, knowledge and skills by the class teacher, throughout lessons. This assessment is then used to inform differentiation, support and challenge required by the children. Design Technology is also monitored by the subject leader throughout the year in the form of book monitoring, looking at outcomes and pupil interviews to discuss their learning and understanding and establish the impact of the teaching taking place. The large majority of children will achieve age related expectations in Design Technology.

In addition 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.

Curriculum progression information: