Design and Technology

Our Design and Technology curriculum is based around our core values:  Successful, Happy, Included, Nurtured and Enriched, and follows the National Curriculum guidance for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. 

In our Early Years Curriculum, Design and Technology falls under the area Expressive Arts and Design (EAD) through which teachers plan in opportunities for children to begin and develop their design and creative skills at the very start of their learning journey with us at Christ Church. This may be: incidental through manipulating a range of different materials; role-playing or independently exploring tools and equipment through activities such as junk modelling.   

Here at Christ Church C of E Primary School, we strive for our pupils to become problem-solving, risk-taking young people and gain and enhance their knowledge, skills and understanding of Design and Technology. To achieve this, we have recently subscribed to Kapow Primary which is a scheme of work utilised in Years 1-6. This programme of study, alongside teachers’ input on their planning catered to their class’s needs and interests ensures both skills progression and a purpose for the construction of products along the way.

As pupils move up the school, taught skills are revisited and built upon through a clear learning cycle of research, design, creation and evaluation. Staff plan in a product’s creation by giving each taught unit a purpose which often links to the wider learning challenge experienced by the children at that time. For example, in Year 5, during the spring term, students explore how we can help our world by looking after our rainforests. Through this topic, they will encounter the impact of deforestation and weigh up a balanced argument for and against keeping animals in captivity. In their Design and Technology units, they research monitoring devices before designing their own through the coding of a micro:bit with an accompanying case to keep it secure yet noticeable.  In their other unit, students raise funds for an end of term outcome by creating a stuffed toy of an animal whose habitat is the rainforest using and developing their sewing and textile skills.

In our Design and Technology sessions, we want our pupils to look at existing products or seek out a gap in the market for their own; allow creative licence so that pupils can make and learn from mistakes; work against a design brief and become users of subject specific, technical vocabulary. We understand all students have the right to learn, therefore resources in Design and Technology are annually reviewed and ordered to ensure every learner can access the subject to their full potential.

Due to the practical nature of the subject, teachers manage risk when students are using and handling a wide range of tools in and outside of the classroom. This may involve sending smaller groups of children with an adult to work in our D&T to access cooking facilities.

To become confident and effective users of technology, we aim for children to:

• Be critical thinkers and able to understand how to make informed and appropriate digital choices in the future.
• Understand the importance that computing will have going forward in both their educational and working life and in their social and personal futures.
• Understand how to balance time spent on technology and time spent away from it in a healthy and appropriate manner.
• Understand that technology helps to showcase their ideas and creativity. They will know that different types of software and hardware can help them achieve a broad variety of artistic and practical aims.
• Show a clear progression of technical skills across all areas of the National curriculum - computer science, information technology and digital literacy.
• Be able to use technology both individually and as part of a collaborative team.
• Be aware of online safety issues and protocols and be able to deal with any problems in a responsible and appropriate manner
• Have an awareness of developments in technology and have an idea of how current technologies work and relate to one another.
• Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Computing.

In Focus Provision children will have the opportunity to: 

• Engage in activities to develop skills linked to personal targets.
• Use Design and Technology to support their growing range of skills, providing them with opportunities to express themselves and produce pieces of work that are unique to them.
• Develop their communication skills through Design and Technology.
• Develop their awareness of cause and effect and how they can have an effect on their environment.
• Share and present their learning using technology.

In EYFS children will have the opportunity to:

• Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
• Share their creations, explaining the process they have used.
• Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.
• Develop their fine motor skills by holding a pencil effectively in preparation for fluent writing – using the tripod grip in almost all cases.
• Use a range of small tools, including scissors, paintbrushes and cutlery.
• Begin to show accuracy and care when drawing

In Key Stage 1 children will have the opportunity to:

• Design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria
• Generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mock-ups and, where appropriate, information and communication technology
• Select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [e.g. cutting, shaping, joining and finishing]
• Select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristic
• Explore and evaluate a range of existing products
• Evaluate their ideas and products against design criteria
• Build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable
• Explore and use mechanisms [e.g. levers, sliders, wheels and axles] in their products

In Key Stage 2 children will have the opportunity to:

• 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
• Select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [e.g. 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
• Investigate and analyse a range of existing products
• Evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work
• Understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world 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 [e.g. series circuits incorporating switches, bulbs, buzzers and motors] • apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products