Design and Technology Curriculum Approach
INTENT:
At Sutton Benger CE Primary School, we recognise the importance of Design and Technology in our daily lives. We aim to instil a love of design and technology and we want our children to be creative, build knowledge and use their skills to design, make prototypes, review, and critique and evaluate. Our design and technology curriculum is deliberately knowledge and vocabulary-rich as we believe it is vital to acquire a cumulatively sufficient understanding of design and technology concepts and creativity. We also recognise and value the need to develop practical design and technology skills so our children are fully immersed in units of learning that allow them to learn, grow and flourish within the design and technology curriculum.
In conjunction with the aims of the National Curriculum, our design and technology curriculum offers opportunities for children to:
- Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
- Build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users
- Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
- Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook
IMPLEMENTATION:
Design and Technology is blocked as units of learning within a 39-weeks curriculum map. The children take on the state of being of ‘Being a Designer’ and are fully immersed in a curriculum unit that is dedicated to design and technology, with pre-existing knowledge from other curriculum areas used to support where possible. Knowledge Organisers are provided for every design and technology unit and they include the foundational knowledge needed in order to build upon prior learning in each design project. Subject specific knowledge is also included which allows pupils to then apply when thinking critically within the unit. The implementation of design and technology in this way supports children to become fully secure in each unit as well as supports them to build progressive understanding of the key concepts that are woven throughout the curriculum. To support high quality planning and assessment, teachers draw upon knowledge from the school’s design and technology subject leader and our scheme of work, as well as from experts within our multi-academy trust, DBAT.
To ensure a cumulatively sufficient curriculum, key concepts are woven throughout. Our curriculum is designed to ensure that all children access the key concepts within a range of units as they progress throughout the school e.g. designing, making high quality prototypes, critiquing and evaluating to adapt and improve. Throughout units in the curriculum, children are challenged to meet learning expectations for their key stage. Key concepts are referred to throughout units so that children are given opportunities to apply these concepts in all areas of the design and technology curriculum e.g. mechanisms/mechanical systems, structures, food, textiles, and electrical systems.
Our curriculum is vocabulary-rich, both in terms of common, technical and extensive specialist vocabulary. All design and technology vocabulary which is key to the unit is included as part of the Knowledge Organiser and is referred to throughout the unit. Children are given opportunities to develop and practice their vocabulary and oracy so that they become confident, articulate designers who are able to apply their skills so that they can design, make, critique and evaluate.
At Sutton Benger CE Primary School, children are taught a balance of design and technology knowledge and practical skills. They work creatively and make links with other areas of learning in subjects such as Science, Maths, Art and Design and Forest Schools. Through ‘Being a Designer’, children are encouraged to: think of the user, the purpose, functionality, design decisions, innovation and authenticity.
IMPACT:
- Children at Sutton Benger CE Primary School have a love for designing and creating.
- Children will perform in a range of design and technology activities. They will use skills from design and technology lessons across the curriculum and be able to design, make prototypes, evaluate and improve as they progress onto their next stage of learning.
- Children will have creative, technical, and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently.
- Children will be enthusiastic enough to pursue avenues of design and technology outside of school.
- Pupils will have good memories of design and technology and will carry on with being creative designers for the rest of their lives.
