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Design and Technology Statement

Intent

The purpose of Design and Technology at Withycombe Raleigh C of E Primary School is to give our children invaluable opportunities to use their creativity and imagination to design and make a breadth of products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and other’s needs, wants and values. We want to inspire our pupils while they develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world. Our aim is to empower each individual with skills and knowledge that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.  We strive to unlock their ability to be the designers and innovators of tomorrow.

 

We endeavour to provide children with well-chosen opportunities to: create excitement, express creativity, think critically, make decisions and gain distinctive knowledge of how Design and Technology impacts on the world. At Withycombe Raleigh Primary School, we want our children to learn to think creatively to solve problems both as individuals or team members in order to make purposefully-designed and innovative products. Where possible, our curriculum keeps pace with technological developments

At Withycombe Raleigh C of E Primary School, using Kapow Primary’s Design and Technology scheme of work our pupils:

  • Learn the product design cycle through ideation, creation and evaluation

  • Develop the confidence to take risks, through drafting design concepts, modelling and testing

  • Solve problems creatively, individually or in teams, to make purposefully designed and innovate products

  • Reflect on and evaluate their own work and the work of others

  • Learn how D&T impact our lives and the wider world

  • Are encouraged to become resourceful, enterprising citizens who can contribute to future advances in design and technology.

We make cross-curricular links between D&T and other disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art, where relevant. This supports the learning across subjects and makes meaningful connections in their minds. For example, the use of electrical circuits in Science supports children with designing / making of torches. Where possible, our curriculum keeps pace with technological developments.

Opportunities are planned to develop children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, including through our school GRACE values. Health and safety and hygiene considerations are taught throughout. 

 

Implementation

 

The Design and 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 technical knowledge which encompasses the contextual, historical, and technical understanding required 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

  • Evaluate

  • Technical knowledge

  • Cooking and nutrition

 

Kapow Primary’s Design and Technology scheme has a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these five strands across each year group.

Pupils respond to design briefs and scenarios that require consideration of the needs of others, developing their skills in six key areas:

  • Mechanisms

  • Structures

  • Textiles

  • Cooking and nutrition (Food)

  • Electrical systems (KS2) and

  • Digital world (KS2)

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Each of the key areas follows the 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 Kapow Primary scheme is a spiral curriculum, with key areas revisited again and again with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to build on their previous learning.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum provides a bedrock and supports children’s understanding of Design and Technology through the planning and teaching of ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ and ‘Understanding the World’. This planning considers how design skills range from children’s first ideas developed from first-hand experience of the world in EYFS which will be built upon in KS1 and KS2.  In EYFS, children learn about Design and Technology through first-hand experiences and explore how things are made and how things work through the sharing of books, stories, poems, small world play, role play and visits.

Lessons incorporate 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. At Withycombe Raleigh C of e Primary School we scaffold all lessons to ensure they can be accessed by all pupils and also provide opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning as much as possible.

Design and Technology lessons at WRPS utilise the Principles of Instruction, as suggested by Rosenshine (2010). Four strands in particular (Reviewing Material, Questioning, Explaining, and Modelling and Practising) help children to avoid overload of their short-term memories and to make connections to their prior learning and retain key concepts.

All our lessons begin with a ‘review’ activity which encourages children to retrieve and recall their prior skills or knowledge and/or vocabulary. These well-thought-out reviews allow children to draw upon previous successes and content (whether in the previous lesson, the previous week, the previous term or the previous year), preparing them for what they are about to learn or the skill that they are about to develop.

At the end of their primary school journey, children will be provided with the opportunities, knowledge and skills to be able to: design and communicate specific aspects of a design and to choose appropriate materials, tools and techniques to achieve this.

 

Impact

 

Children at Withycombe Raleigh C of E Primary School will acquire the skills and knowledge to develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world. Knowledge and skills will have developed progressively to not only enable them to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum, but to prepare pupils to become competent designers and innovators in secondary education and as an adult in the wider world / world of work.
 

We aim for children to have an enjoyable experience when developing a keen interest in their learning about Design and Technology – evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice.

Impact is constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Furthermore, for each unit we use a quiz or knowledge catcher at the start and end of the unit to help assess children’s progress.

We believe pupils should leave school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and be innovative and resourceful members of society.

Our Design and Technology curriculum aims to ensure 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, clients, 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 today 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 Curriculum for Design and Technology.

  • Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National Curriculum for Computing.

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