Design Technology at Evelyn CP School

Intent

Our aim for Technology is for pupils to develop the confidence and competence to identify, examine and solve real life problems. The purpose for children is to have knowledge of engineers both current and from history. Children will develop appropriate vocabulary to designing, making and evaluating. This is an integral part of all teaching and learning.

The pupils are given opportunities to develop their capabilities in order to produce accurate and detailed work. They will give time and thought to time constraints and cost. A variety of tools, materials and equipment is used with thought to safety. At all times the pupils will be encouraged to develop their evaluative skills and to take pride their ability to design and make.

Our theme weeks give children the opportunity to strengthen and extend their core knowledge and skills on structures, mechanisms, textiles and food technology. From Nursery to Year 6 children are given the opportunity to develop, extend and consolidate their knowledge and skills in a progressive, structured framework.

Implementation

Our Design and Technology curriculum is implemented throughout the year in four theme weeks. The focus of these weeks is structures, mechanisms, textiles and food technology. This ensures that children are constantly building upon previous learning and are able to expand their knowledge and understanding of problem solving, designing and constructing different products. Children will complete four projects a year; the whole school will work on a project a term, at the same time. By having a full week to complete the block ensures that children are fully immersed in the design-make-evaluate process.

•  Design Technology has cross curricular links to the ARCS Curriculum and so children are  provided with real-life scenarios when making. Children are given a design brief to put the need for the product in context.   Where possible, teachers ensure that the brief is linked to another area of their learning or has relevance to the children to inspire their imagination and eagerness to create and problem solve.
•   Children are given a variety of real life products to explore in great detail, expanding their knowledge of how they look and work, allowing children to evaluate products against their target market and purpose.
• For each project children follow the design, make and evaluate sequence, allowing children time to reflect upon their design and products and think of ways that they could be improved or adapted. Teachers support and model increasingly progressive evaluative skills, to enable children to create products of a high-quality throughout school.
• Safety is explained and modelled at the start of and throughout each product including food hygiene instructions.
• All classes have a class engineer to study throughout the year. The expectation is that children have knowledge of the life of at least four engineers by the time children reach year 6.
• All classes have key vocabulary displayed in a pot of knowledge for Design Technology that is specific to their theme week and will be displayed in the classroom.
• Additionally we provide a Design and Technology based after-school club with the Mad Scientists (this includes knowledge about engineering) for both Key stage 1 and Key stage 2
   

Impact

As a Designer and Technologist transitioning to secondary school, we aspire that pupils will have gained knowledge and understanding of different skills and techniques required to problem-solve by designing and creating a variety of products using a safe approach. They will have an understanding of the cross curricular elements within the subject and the importance of skills learnt in other areas of the curriculum and how they aid the design and make process, as well as how these techniques and skills will aid them in future life and learning.