Design Technology
Intent
Through our DT curriculum, children will learn the knowledge and skills required to solve real world problems in varied and exciting contexts, drawing on their own and others' wants and needs to achieve this. Other subjects' skills such as those found in maths, science, computing and art may be used in order that there is a robust and effective design and build process. Children will become skilled in evaluating their own and others' products to determine their fitnes for purpose and whether they could be improved.
Implementation
Design Technology provides contexts for learning about the designed and made world and how things work, and learning to design and make functional products for particular purposes and users. By combining their design and making skills with technical knowledge and understanding, they will learn to create quality products.
Curriculum Structure and Sequencing
We structure our DT curriculum by using the National Curriculum plus the Design and Technology Association resources such as 'Projects on a Page'. This allows children across school to have a full understanding of the designing, making, evaluating and cooking strands. In each year group, children have the opportunity to complete a range of products that will focus on construction, textiles and cookery. Throughout KS2, computer aided design is used to inform their ideas. From Year 1 to Year 6, children cover three units per year, including one cookery unit. The half termly units are alternated with Art.
Content and Concepts
Our aim is to ensure that our DT curriculum shapes children into critical designers and makers. In each unit, children research exisiting designs already in use and critique them, understanding what might be effective to use in thier own product designs.
Assessment
We assess DT in a variety of ways, giving children opportunities to explain their reasoning and design ideas through practical exercises, group tasks, quizzes or discussion. Children are assessed throughout the designing, planning, making and evaluation parts of the process so that by the end of each year, a judgement is reached based on each of the units they have worked on.