Your design technology subject leader is Mr Bloomfield

Intent:

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 Okehampton Primary School, pupils 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.

Pupils 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 pupils’ 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 scheme of work that we use (Kapow Primary’s design technology) aims to inspire pupils to be innovative and creative thinkers who have an appreciation for the product design cycle through ideation, creation and evaluation. We want pupils to develop the confidence to take risks, through drafting design concepts, modelling, and testing and to be reflective learners who evaluate their work and the work of others. Through the scheme of work, we aim to build an awareness of the impact of design and technology on our lives and encourage pupils to become resourceful, enterprising citizens who will have the skills to contribute to future design advancements.

Our main objectives in the teaching of Design and Technology are.

• to develop imaginative thinking pupils, and to enable them to talk about what they like and dislike when designing and making, and to be able to express their own ideas through their work
• to enable pupils to talk about how things work, and to draw and model their ideas.  
• 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
• to increase their critical awareness of the roles and purposes of DT throughout the ages and throughout the world
• to foster enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making things

Our scheme of work (Kapow Primary) enables pupils to meet the end of key stage attainment targets in the National curriculum and the aims also align with those in the National curriculum.

Implementation:

The design and technology National Curriculum outinlines the three main stages of the design process: design, make and evaluate. Each stage of the design propcess 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, evalutate, technical knowledge and cooking and nutrition.

Our scheme of work 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 nutiriotion. Key stage 2 also develops skills in electrical systems and digital world to help meet the National Curriculum objectives.

Each of our the key areas follows the National Curriculm 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, offering ample retreival opportunities of the key areas with increasing complexity, allowing, pupils to build on their previous learning.

Lessons incorprate a range of teaching strategies 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. Differentitated 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 cover all National Curriculum objectives for design and technology. These modules are taught by a specialist 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 time table for alternating half term to ensure that they have sufficient time to complete the modules and achieve the objectives.

The school ensures a range of equipement and resources are provided so that childre pupils have 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 pupils 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.

Impact: 

The impact of our design and technology provision is monitored through  formative and summativwe assessment opportuntities. Each lesson includes guidance to support teachers in assessing pupils against the learning objectives. Furthermoure, 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 pupils who are at risk of underachieving have their needs skilfully and consistently met to protect them from this risk.  The design and technology curriculum at Okehampton Primary School contributes towards this aim by encouraging pupils’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 educaation and be inovative and resourceful members of society.

The expected impact of following this scheme of work is that pupils will:

• Understand the funtional and aesthetic properties of a range of materials and resources.
• Understand how to use and combine tools to carry out different processes for shaping, decorating, and manufacturing products.
• Build and apply a repertoire of skills, knowledge and understanding to produce high quality, innovative outcomes, including models, prototypes, CAD, and products to fulfil the needs of users, clients and scenarios.
• Understand and apply the principles of healthy eating, diets, and recipes, including key processes, food groups and cooking equiepment.
• Have an appreciation for key individuals, inventions, and events in history and present day that impact the world we live in.
• Recognise where our decisions can impact the wider world in terms of community, social and enviromental issues.
• Self-evaulate and reflect on learning at different stages and identify areas to improve.
• Meet the end of the key stage expectations outline in the National curriculum for design and technology.