Abbey Gates Primary School Design & Technology Curriculum Offer

Intent:

Our intention is to tailor our Design & Technology curriculum uniquely to the needs of our pupils, delivering meaningful and contextually relevant lessons aligned with their learning and interests. The curriculum is driven by the key principles of possibilities, diversity, and community. We aim to explore how Design & Technology has met the needs and wants of consumers in the past, present, and future.

Design & Technology provides opportunities for children to appreciate diverse and changing needs and wants within society. By evaluating products, materials, and processes, children are encouraged to discuss and respect diverse views, developing concepts such as equality, care, sustainability, and fairness.

The curriculum aims to build and revisit skills and knowledge in Design & Technology, specifically focusing on Planning and Communication, and Making and Evaluating Processes and Products. The design is intended to cover the breadth of learning set out in the National Curriculum, incorporating cooking and nutrition, the digital world (KS2 only), electrical systems (KS2 only), textiles, and mechanisms (KS1) / mechanical structures (KS2).

Within Design & Technology, our goal is to draw knowledge from other areas of learning, including Maths, English, and Computing, providing a meaningful context to embed and apply cross-curricular skills.

Equip:

The Design & Technology curriculum aims to equip children with the confidence, attitude, skills, and knowledge to become successful, reflective designers and makers, both within the classroom and as future innovative and enterprising citizens.

Embed:

We ensure that prior knowledge, vocabulary, and skills are regularly revisited and reviewed, and staff are aware of prior and future learning in each strand.

Extend:

Our aim is to ensure that all children are challenged to reach their full potential in DT, considering next steps through assessment for learning.

Enrich:

By providing children with a breadth of opportunities to embed knowledge, such as engaging with the community through visits and meeting professionals like engineers, designers, and chefs, we intend to enrich learning, develop cultural capital, and increase awareness of careers and developments linked to Design & Technology.

Key Concepts:

Our DT teaching encompasses three key concepts - understanding the User (a person who uses or operates something), Implementation (the process of putting a decision or plan into effect; execution), and Innovation (the act of creating a new method, idea, or product).

Implement:

At Abbey Gates, we believe that nothing has been learned until it is in long-term memory, and that memory is the residue of thought. Planning for Design & Technology is a varied process, encompassing individual lessons, termly projects, out-of-school visits, workshops, and additional input from external providers. Children engage with Design & Technology to develop skills and understanding in Designing, Making, and Evaluating, and increase their Technical Skills and Knowledge. The curriculum also includes provision for teaching 'Cooking & Nutrition'.

Creative planning inspires and enthuses children to critically evaluate products and processes. They recognize the value in taking risks and become successful problem solvers in designing, making, and evaluating products.

Throughout the projects, children are exposed to rich vocabulary within meaningful contexts. Design & Technology is creatively linked with subjects including History, Art & Design, Music, and supports the development of skills in Reading, Computing, Maths, and Science. The projects add depth and rigour to learning and impact the acquisition of cultural capital through enrichment opportunities, including studies of inventors, educational visits, and visitors into school.

Within our EYFS, we foster the Characteristics for Learning (exploration, active learning, and critical thinking) and provide opportunities for Expressive Art and Design, and Understanding the World, which equips our youngest children with the attitudes and experiences on which our curriculum for Design & Technology is built.

The breadth of our curriculum inspires, equips, and motivates children to engage with Design & Technology. They become ‘Designers’ working individually and collaboratively; designing, making, and evaluating products. As part of our projects, children work with food and learn to cook. They learn the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. They develop a knowledge of where food comes from and discuss values, fairness, sustainability, and ethics when making choices and evaluating products.

Enterprise projects provide 'real-life' opportunities for children to apply creativity to design and make products for a purpose. They apply skills and knowledge in Design & Technology and draw skills from other domains, including Maths, Science, Art & Design, Oracy, and English.

Impact:

The impact of our Design & Technology offer is measured through our comprehensive monitoring cycle, which includes book looks, digital evidence, learning walks, pupil voice, planning scrutiny, and curriculum intent reviews. Once reviewed, the subject leader will formulate an action plan for improvement.

Through POP tasks, we assess and track DT against our sequencing documents, ensuring children maintain a good knowledge, skills, and understanding. In assessing, we look for sustained mastery, inspired learners, and children who are fulfilling their potential while experiencing a sense of enjoyment and achievement.

The intended impact of our Design & Technology curriculum offer is outlined below:

- Children can articulate and explain what Design & Technology is.

- Children demonstrate significant levels of originality and willingness to take creative risks to produce innovative ideas and prototypes.

- Children have an excellent attitude to learning and independent working.

- Children can use time effectively and work constructively and productively with others.

- Children can carry out research, show initiative, and ask questions to develop an exceptionally detailed knowledge of user’s needs.

- Children can act as responsible designers and makers, working ethically, using finite materials carefully and working safely.

- Children have a thorough knowledge of which tools, equipment, and materials to use to make their products.

- Children have the ability to apply knowledge in Maths and English.

- Children can manage risks exceptionally well to manufacture products safely and hygienically.

- Children have a passion for the subject and knowledge of up-to-date technological innovations.