Quernmore C.E (VC) Primary School

Design and Technology

Intent

At Quernmore Primary School the design and technology curriculum is designed to prepare our children for the developing world, encouraging them to become creative problem-solvers, both as individuals and as part of a team. Our curriculum encourages the children to look for needs, wants and opportunities and respond to them by developing a range of ideas and making products and systems. We want our children to develop a life-long love of design and technology and to learn more and remember more. 

Our children combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues. Evaluation is an integral part of the design process and allows children to adapt and improve their product. Children are encouraged to make improvements to existing ideas and products and evaluate their ideas against their design criteria. At Quernmore we put the child’s needs at the centre of our curriculum, ensuring that it is inclusive and supports all children including the disadvantaged, SEN and EAL.

Our curriculum offers opportunities for children to:

  • take part in creative and practical activities;
  • understand the importance of design and technology in the wider world;
  • develop imaginative thinking and enable them to talk about what they like and dislike when designing and making things;
  • talk about how things work, and to draw and model their ideas;
  • explore computing as a means of design (CAD);
  • be analytical and critical when they are considering and analysing products;
  • select appropriate materials, tools and techniques for making a product;
  • follow safe procedures when using equipment;
  • explore attitudes towards the ‘made’ world and how we live and work within it;
  • develop an understanding of technological processes and products, their manufacture and their contribution to society;
  • foster enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making things.

 

Implementation

At Quernmore Primary Schools our design and technology curriculum is built around essential knowledge, understanding and key skills.  These are broken into year group expectations and show clear continuity and progress.  All teaching of design and technology follows the design, make and evaluate cycle.  The design process should be relevant in context, to give meaning to learning. While making, children should be given choice and a range of tools to choose freely from. When evaluating, children should be able to evaluate their own products against a design criteria. Each of these steps should be rooted in technical knowledge and vocabulary. With the exception of class 2, we have a two year rolling programme that highlights our areas of study.

 

For design and technology in EYFS children are given the opportunity to select and use appropriate tools and resources to accomplish tasks and complete goals and work collaboratively to achieve more. We encourage the development of skills, knowledge and understanding that help reception children make sense of their world as an integral part of their school experience. We relate this development to the objectives set out in the Early Learning Goals. This learning forms the foundations for later work in design and technology.

These early experiences include:

  •       asking questions about how things work
  •       investigating and using a variety of construction kits, materials, tools and products
  •       developing making skills and handling appropriate tools and construction materials safely and with increasing control
  •       work is often linked to our topic based curriculum, offering a range of experiences that encourage exploration, observation, problem solving, critical thinking and discussion

 

Design and technology in KS1 is linked to our topic based curriculum, and is taught through the children’s wider curriculum lessons and through their enhanced learning provision and environment, with skills being introduced and revisited through daily challenges.  Research and evaluation into the product being created is often the starting point to enable children to experience finished products linked to their project. Designs are made with the end goal in mind, using findings from their research. Focused practical tasks are used when needed to develop and practise particular skills and acquire knowledge before moving onto a larger project piece. Children are then supported with the evaluation of their model, relating it back to their original design. Opportunities are given, where appropriate, for individual work and collaborative projects.

During Key Stage 1, pupils learn how to:

  •       think imaginatively and talk about what they like and dislike when designing and making
  •       build on their early childhood experiences of investigating objects around them. explore how familiar things work and talk about, draw and model their ideas
  •       learn how to design and make safely, choosing the appropriate tools and methods

 

During Key Stage 2 design and technology projects are linked to our topic based curriculum. Pupils work on their own and as part of a team on a range of designing and making activities. They think about what products are used for and the needs of the people who use them. They plan strategically what must be done and identify what works well and what could be improved in their own and other people’s designs. They draw on knowledge and understanding from other areas of the curriculum and use computers in a range of ways. Their products are of a high standard and fit for purpose.

In KS2 pupils will

  • work as group or individually
  • produce quality work that they are proud of
  • be encouraged the safe, economic and appropriate use of materials, tools and equipment

 

 

In order to ensure progression children are given opportunities to:

  • Research and record relevant information where appropriate to meet a need/brief.
  • Develop realistic outcomes to assignments.
  • Take increasing responsibility for their own work.
  • Critically evaluate their work and the work of others and suggest improvements.
  • Work individually and in teams, groups, partners or pairs.
  • Work with a range of materials and to use them appropriately.
  • Use a variety of tools safely and correctly.
  • Communicate ideas in a variety of ways.
  • Develop skills and apply knowledge and experience when working on an assignment.
  • Develop the ability to solve problems.
  • Examine and evaluate design features in simple products including their historical development.

  

Impact

Teacher assessment is used to inform future planning and to review children’s capability. Design and technology assignments are used throughout the key stages to assist with formative and summative assessment. Children are encouraged to make oral and written evaluations of their work in technology throughout the key stages.

In KS1 evidence of our projects are included in our class floor books, where photographs, observational comments and design/evaluation sheets are displayed.

 

In KS2 children use design and evaluation sheets to plan, record, assess and evaluate their work, which are stuck in their topic books.

At the end of a unit of work teachers make a judgment using the school’s assessment materials (Klips) which are linked to the National Curriculum levels of attainment. Children will be assessed on whether they are developing, secure or exceeding these key objectives and skills so that they can be developed the next time they revisit the area of the subject. Teachers then use this to plan future work and to make an annual assessment of progress for each child, as part of the annual report to parents. This information is passed on to the next teachers at the end of the year.

 DT Curriculum Skills and Progression Map