Curriculum Intent

INTENT, IMPLEMENTATION & IMPACT

INTENT

Through our teaching of Design Technology, we aim to:

• Ensure that pupils always “design and make a real product with a real purpose for a real person”.
• Embed the four main principles for EYFS; when designing and making products children should be thinking about:-
  • User – children should consider who their products are for, eg. a coat for Teddy, a new cloak for Little Red Riding Hood
  • Purpose - children should think about what their products will do, eg. a chair for teddy bear to sit on, sandwiches for a tea party
  • Function – children should think about how their products will work, eg. a construction kit wall strong and stable enough for Humpty
  • Aesthetics – children should think about how their users would like the end products to look like, eg. decoration used on a simple textile hand puppet for a little sister, an overnight bag for one of the three pigs
• Embed the six main principles of the National Curriculum for Design and Technology into the school curriculum for Year 1 to Year 6:-
  • User – pupils should consider who their products are for
  • Purpose – pupils should decide which tasks their products will perform
  • Functionality – pupils should think about how their products will work
  • Design Decisions – pupils should have opportunities to make informed choices 
  • Innovation – pupils should have scope to be original with their thinking
  • Authenticity – pupils should design and make products that are real, believable and can be evaluated through use
• Ensure that the two strands of subject content:-
  • Design and Making
  • Cooking and Nutrition

       are covered as per the requirements of the National Curriculum

• Ensure that one unit of food technology (Cooking and Nutrition) and two units of Design and Making are completed per academic year from Year 1 to Year 6.
• Ensure that children in EYFS are given regular opportunities to develop confidence with tools and techniques for designing and making, as well as cooking and nutrition skills.

• Ensure consistent presentation of subject content across all year groups – from Year 1 to Year 6 (using Design And Technology Association – DATA - workbooks).
• Ensure consistency of practice for all DATA workbooks to be filed in children’s DT Folders, and that these are passed on to the new teachers at the end of the academic year in order to track pupil’s progress across Gordon Primary School.

IMPLEMENTATION

Curriculum - Details on specific topics each year group will study can be found in the progression map for Design Technology. Within Early Years, there are four main principles:

• • User
  • Purpose
  • Function
  • Aesthetics
     

Throughout Key Stage One and Two, there are six main principles:  

• User
• Purpose
• Functionality
• Design Decisions
• Innovation
• Authenticity

In addition, there are a further two strands of subject content:-

• Design and Making
• Cooking and Nutrition

When Planning DT, we:

• Follow long term planning of subject content collectively with the DT subject leader to ensure complete curriculum coverage (as per Gordon Primary School DT Curriculum document) and progression across all years and key stages.
• Ensure the sequential progression of initial engagement (investigating examples of the product), coverage of key skills (making a prototype or the mechanism), design (including computer-based design), making, and then evaluating are planned for all DT units.
• Ensure that this circular (design – make – evaluate - new iteration design) process is embedded in the Cleveland planning process for DT. 
• Put the designing and making process at the heart of the subject.
• Investigate and analyse existing products.
• Create products using a wide range of materials and components.
• Have evaluating own ideas and products built into end of unit plans, identifying areas of improvement and strengths of the product to incorporate into future DT work – as per real world design and make process of improving on previous iterations of all products.
• Provide appropriate vocabulary, ensuring accessibility to all pupils.

Teaching and Learning

The principal aims are:

• To develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in Design and Technology.
• That teachers ensure the children apply their knowledge and understanding when developing ideas, planning and making products and then evaluating them. This is done through a mixture of whole-class teaching and individual/group activities especially for key focus groups.
• That children are given the opportunity both to work on their own and to collaborate with others; listening to other children’s ideas and treating these with respect.
• That children research the topic prior to and during every project.
• That teachers make sure that pupils have enough time to prepare and plan, collect ideas, information and materials, and to make and evaluate work.
• That teachers ensure quality teaching is taking place by becoming familiar with Design Technology techniques required for their year group and their DT unit; the Design Technology Leader may also be consulted to support teachers that require assistance with DT skills and/or Health and Safety protocols.
• Organisation of the lessons must be clearly set out by collecting equipment and materials needed prior to the lesson and by setting out the classroom environment in an appropriate manner according to the requirements for the DT tools of that session.
• Suitable learning opportunities must be provided for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child.
• That planning for the subject is cross-curricular linked, especially with Art, Computing, Science and Mathematics as per the subject mind maps.

IMPACT

As with all our subject teaching, we do not teach DT in isolation to other curriculum areas; where possible, we relate the work undertaken to real life situations and we also aim to:

• Improve pupils' skills in English, Maths, Science, History, Geography and Computing.
• Develop pupils' thinking skills.
• Promote pupils' awareness and understanding of gender, cultural, spiritual and moral issues.
• Develop pupils as active and responsible citizens within their own and wider communities.