D&T | Christ Church Fed

Design & Technology

Infant

Intent

Our intent at Christ Church Infant School and Nursery is to ensure that the children are taught the subject of Design and Technology as specified in the National Curriculum.

Design and Technology prepares pupils to participate in an ever changing technological world by becoming discriminating, informed users and innovators of products. They learn to think creatively to improve the quality of life by looking for and responding to human needs, wants and interests. They combine their understanding of relevant and past design and technology with practical skills to design, make and evaluate their own products.

The national curriculum for design and technology aims to ensure that all pupils:

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 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

Our Design and Technology curriculum is implemented through a variety of different projects.

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.

Impact

Children will have clear enjoyment and confidence in design and technology that they will then apply to other areas of the curriculum. They 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. The large majority of children will achieve age related expectations in Design Technology. As designers children will develop skills and attributes they can use beyond school and into adulthood.

EYFS Design & Technology Overview

KS1 Design & Technology Overview

Junior

Intent

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, pupils at Christ Church Junior are taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an interactive process of designing and making.

They work in a range of relevant contexts (for example, the home, school, leisure, culture, enterprise, industry and the wider environment). This helps to prepare children for the developing world. The subject encourages children to become creative problem-solvers, both as individuals and as part of a team. Through the study of Design and Technology they combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues. Design and Technology helps all children to become discriminating and informed consumers and potential innovators. It should assist children in developing a greater awareness and understanding of how everyday products are designed and made. We are developing a strong link to STEM within our DT. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)

The aims of Design and Technology in our school

To develop imaginative thinking in children and to enable them to talk about what they like and dislike when designing and making as a future consumer.
To enable children to talk about how things work, and to draw and model their ideas as a future developer. This needs to focus on their products USP. (Unique Selling Point)
To encourage children to select appropriate tools and techniques for making a product, whilst following safe procedures.
To foster enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making.
To evaluate the effectiveness of their product and whether it is fit for its designed purpose.
To use STEM to assist designing and learning.

Implementation

Teaching and Learning Style

We use a variety of teaching and learning styles in design and technology lessons. Teachers ensure that the children apply their knowledge and understanding of current products when developing ideas. Allow the children to investigate how their product will be unique when planning. Ensure the making of products is focused for a specific target consumer. Finally evaluating the product with a focus on whether it is fit for its design purpose.

We do this through a mixture of whole class teaching and individual/group activities. All ideas will be treated with respect. Children critically evaluate their own work and that of others. They have the opportunity to use a wide range of materials and resources, including Computing.

Children will be given the opportunity to work within three main areas of development during each topic:

1. Investigative, disassembly and evaluative activities (IDEAs)

These activities provide opportunities for the children to explore existing products and to gain skills, knowledge and understanding which can be applied in a design and make assignment.

2. Focused practical tasks (FPTs)

Focused practical tasks provide opportunities to learn and practise particular skills and knowledge.

3. Design and make assignments (DMAs)

A design and make assignment provides an opportunity for the children to combine their skills, knowledge and understanding to develop products that meet a real need. (In general DMAs in Key Stage One will tend to be shorter in duration and, as children move towards the end of Key Stage Two, their designing and making will become more complex and therefore more time consuming.)

When designing and making, pupils will have been taught the following objectives.

Design

use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups.
generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design.

their product should have a target market and have a Unique Selling Point that makes their product unique.
Investigate and analyse a range of existing products.

Make

select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately.
select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities.

Evaluate

evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and its purpose. Consider the views of others (as a consumer) to improve their work.
understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world with their inventions. Our children are both future consumers and Inventors.

Technical knowledge

apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures.
understand and use mechanical systems in their products [for example, gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages].
understand and use electrical systems in their products [for example, series circuits incorporating switches, bulbs, buzzers and motors] .
apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products.

Impact

The children at Christ Church will be able to articulate the processes required to develop a product for a consumer. They will be able to explain how they researched, designed, made and tested products and the importance of review and modification. They will understand the relevance of the skills that they have acquired and how they will be necessary for specific career pathways.