Design & Technology | Christ Church C of E Primary School

Design & Technology

Intent

At Christ Church Primary School, Design Technology is taught in all year groups through purposeful activities. Projects are often made cross curricular - linking to other subjects taught, ensuring that children see and understand the links. Key objectives within the Design Technology Curriculum are based on National Curriculum guidance.

As members of the Design and Technology Association we have access to a variety of resources which are used to create exciting, meaningful learning experiences. Projects are based on children's interests and topics studied. Skills are developed progressively throughout their time at Christ Church. Knowledge and understanding for the subject is built on prior learning and intended to encourage their curiosity and enquiry while introducing them to the countless possibilities of innovation and creation.

See the following websites to learn more about the kind of material we use to inform our school curriculum.

STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Maths) https://www.stem.org.uk/primary

https://www.data.org.uk/shop-products/projects-on-a-page-sample

https://www.primaryengineer.com/

Implementation

At Christ Church, staff plan and structure a sequence of lessons linked to the skill that we want the children to obtain. This ensures they have planned the knowledge and skills detailed in our progression document; required to meet the aims of the National Curriculum. All teaching of DT follows the research/explore, demonstrate, design, make, refine and evaluate and finally, showcase cycle across all year groups. Each of the stages are rooted in technical knowledge and vocabulary. Using the long-term progression document and medium-term overviews, class teachers prepare:

A sequence of lessons, which are coherently planned and aid progression and depth of knowledge
Trips and visiting experts to support and enhance learning
Displays to celebrate children’s learning

Building on from prior learning in the EYFS to ensure coverage with our mixed age classes we use a two-year rolling programme where all children in Key Stage 1 and Lower Key Stage 2 complete cycle A and the following year cycle B.

Impact

Our Design and Technology curriculum has been carefully planned to provide a seamless progression through school. We measure the impact of the curriculum through the following methods:

Looking at pupils’ work, especially over time as they gain the knowledge and skills
Observing how they perform in lessons
Talking to them about what they know

The Design and Technology curriculum will contribute to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgment and self-reflection. This will be seen in them being able to talk confidently about their work, and sharing their work with others. Progress will be shown through outcomes.

Long term and medium-term plans are reviewed on a termly basis to ensure they are in-line with National Curriculum expectations and updates.