Design & Technology (DT)
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Intent
At Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School, children receive a design and technology curriculum which allows them to exercise their creativity through designing and making. The children are taught to combine their designing and making skills with knowledge and understanding in order to design and make a product. Skills are taught progressively to ensure that all children are able to learn and practice in order to develop as they move through the school. Evaluation is an integral part of the design process and allows children to adapt and improve their product, this is a key skill which they need throughout their life. D&T allows children to apply the knowledge and skills learned in other subjects, particularly maths, science, computing and art. Children’s interests are captured through theme learning, ensuring that links are made in a cross curricular way, giving children motivation and meaning for their learning.
Implementation
All teaching of DT should follow the design, make and evaluate cycle. Each stage should be rooted in technical knowledge. The design process should be rooted in real life, relevant contexts to give meaning to learning. While making, children should be given choice and a range of tools to choose freely from. To evaluate, 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. DT should be taught to a high standard, where each of the stages should be given equal weight.
The key skills we teach the children are:
- Sewing and textiles
- Cooking and nutrition
- Electrical and mechanical components
- Pneumatics
- Using different materials
- Moving parts and mechanisms – e.g. levers, sliders, cams and axels
Impact
By the time children leave our school they will:
- An excellent attitude to learning and independent working.
- The ability to use time efficiently and work constructively and productively with others.
- The ability to carry out thorough research, show initiative and ask questions to develop an
exceptionally detailed knowledge of users’ needs. - The ability to act as responsible designers and makers, working ethically, using finite materials
carefully and working safely. - A thorough knowledge of which tools, equipment and materials to use to make their products.
- The ability to apply mathematical knowledge and skills accurately.
- The ability to manage risks exceptionally well to manufacture products safely and hygienically.