What is Design and Technology?

Design and Technology is the creation of designing a product with a purpose in mind. It is the skill of understanding the design of a range of objects, how certain parts are made, and how to join, fix and use materials effectively.

Intent, Implementation & Impact for Design and Technology (D&T)

EYFS The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum supports the development of children’s imagination and creativity through the planning and teaching of ‘Expressive arts and design’. Practitioners plan and encourage regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The curriculum provides a play-based and experiential learning environment, combined with focused teaching of basic skills, to ensure that children have the foundations for their creativity and to represent their own ideas. Art and design in the Early years is collaborative, sharing ideas, resources, and skills, we aim to encourage creativity and expression from the beginning of children’s school experience. We celebrate children’s individuality and build on child-led learning in design and making things.

Intent

At John Blow Primary School we intend to build a Design and Technology curriculum which is inspiring, relevant and practical. We aim to provide cross-curricular opportunities in design and technology, which encourage children to use their creativity and imagination to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts. Our design and technology curriculum focuses on teaching a progressive development of key knowledge and skills, enabling children to tackle real life problems. Our children are encouraged to use their creativity, become risk-takers and work collaboratively to become innovators.

Implementation

Our whole curriculum is shaped by our school vision which aims to enable all children, regardless of background, ability, additional needs, to flourish to become the very best version of themselves they can possibly be. We teach the National Curriculum, supported by a clear objectives and knowledge progression. This ensures that objectives, skills, and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children and are progressive throughout school. At John Blow Primary School:

• We teach Design and Technology using project-based learning in blocks. Each class uses cross-curricular links to design and make a project termly. This enables children’s learning to be better focused and they use their creativity, knowledge and skills to produce work to be proud of.

• We use a clear design process throughout the school: research, design, make and evaluate.

• Key concepts and vocabulary are included in planning and teachers encourage the use of technical vocabulary in class discussions this links to a whole school focus of on improving language skills and breadth of vocabulary.

• Cookery is planned in every year group as part of the D&T curriculum. This gives children opportunities to bring every day life skills into the classroom and create memorable experiences that prepare children for later life.

• Our assessment tracker (EAZMAG) allows us to use data to inform future practice

Impact

By the time children will leave our school they should have developed:

• A secure knowledge and understanding of skills and which tools, equipment and materials to use to make their products.

• The knowledge and confidence to apply what they have learned in other areas of the curriculum and in every day life.

• Practical, creative and technical expertise needed to perform every day tasks in an increasingly technological world.

• A passion for design and technology and a desire to explore their learning and creativity further in the future.