Intention

At Thornton Primary, we believe that Design and Technology should be taught in a way that inspires creativity and imagination. We aim to inspire pupils to be innovative and creative thinkers who have an appreciation for the product design cycle. Our pupils will be faced with real-world problems and encouraged to imagine ideas, draft design concepts and form prototypes to resolve this situation. They use the information gathered to create their final product, use it and reflect upon it’s suitability, for both the user and purpose. Throughout this subject, sustainability and the impact of manufacturing processes on the environment is also explained to the children.

We provide opportunities for our children to research past and present designs and designers, understanding the impact that these products have had on daily life. When designing, children are encouraged to communicate their ideas through discussions, diagrams and prototypes. They learn technical knowledge relating to structures, mechanisms, textiles and food technology. Our children also develop skills when using various tools, considering accuracy and safety

Ultimately, we aim to build an awareness of the impact of design and technology on our lives and encourage our children to become resourceful, enterprising citizens who will have skills to contribute to future design advancements.

Implementation

At Thornton Primary, we utilise Design & Technology Association scheme of work. This enables pupils to meet the end of key stage attainment targets in the National Curriculum. This is taught in a sequential manner, building on prior learning and preparing for future learning.

The Design 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 technological knowledge which encompasses the contextual, historical and technical understanding required for each strand. These strands are:

• Design
• Make
• Evaluate
• Technical knowledge

The scheme of work has a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these five strands across each year group. Attainment targets and progression of skills have been carefully mapped out to ensure they are securely met by the end of each key stage.

Through the Design & Technology Association scheme, pupils respond to a design brief or scenario that requires consideration of the needs of others. It ensures that skills are being developed in:

• Mechanisms
• Structures
• Textiles
• Cooking and nutrition
• Electrical systems (KS2)
• Digital world (KS2)

Lessons incorporate independent tasks, paired and group work including practical hands-on, computer-based and inventive tasks.

SEND

We seek to inspire all our children, promoting their interests and developing their knowledge and skills. Design and Technology is a subject where children of all abilities can showcase their creativity and skills. A range of equipment is available to meet the varying level of pupil dexterity, fine motor control and precision. The Design & Technology Association scheme includes differentiated guidance for every lesson, should it be required. It also provides units through which children should consider a broad range of users for a particular product, including those with disabilities. This widens their understanding of consumer needs and encourages more considerate, thoughtful designs.

Curriculum Links

Our Design and Technology curriculum enables children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas such as Maths, English and Science. For instance, measuring and sawing wood, drawing labelled diagrams and seeing forces in action. There are many opportunities for children to practise technological skills through Forest School, such as building structures, using pulleys and preparing and cooking soup.

Vocabulary

The Design & Technology Association scheme of work includes a comprehensive list of key facts and vocabulary that are to be taught in each unit, including dual coded cards. Our children are encouraged to use knowledge organisers, where they can record key facts that they have learnt and definitions of vocabulary.

Impact

The scheme of work includes key learning objectives that are utilised to assess children’s learning. These are used throughout each unit as part of the ongoing teacher assessments and after each lesson, the teacher will mark next to the learning objective LOA- Learning Objective Achieved or LON- for not achieved. In additional to this, we include DT questions in our weekly Flashback Fridays to revisit and embed prior learning. At a later date, the children will complete a spaced assessment to about each unit to test their knowledge retention and understanding. This may involve a quiz to recall key facts and technical vocabulary or a task to practise skills.

The expected impact of following the Design & Technology Association scheme of work is that children will:

• Understand the functional 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 and scenarios.
• Understand and apply the principles of healthy eating, diets and recipes, including key processes, food groups and cooking equipment.
• Have an appreciation for key individuals, inventions and events in history, and of the present, that impact our world.
• Recognise where our decisions can impact the wider world in terms of community, social and environmental issues.
• Self-evaluate and reflect on learning at different stages and identify areas to improve.
• Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National and EYFS curriculum.

The Design & Technology Association published the following:

• Design can make the world a better place. We believe our subject promotes design thinking that relates to and engages students with real global and local challenges. Through this, we believe Design and Technology can be the catalyst that excites learners to want to make a difference in the world.
• Design and technology bridges the arts and science/technology, allowing students to join up knowledge and become confident conceptual thinkers and problem solvers.

https://www.designtechnology.org.uk/who-we-are/our-mission-and-values