Design and Technology

Curriculum Vision

Intent

At St. Clare’s, we deliver a high-quality Design and Technology curriculum that engages, inspires and challenges pupils. It is knowledge and skills-based, with cross-curricular links made, where appropriate. Children will become creative learners, who have a good understanding of the design process of designing, making and evaluating, to successfully develop a functional product, with users and purposes in mind.

Implementation

In Design and Technology, children follow a cycle of designing, making and evaluating. From Year 2 onwards, each stage in the process of designing and making a product is collected in a Design and Technology file. This may include notes or pictures of relevant research, drawings with annotations, photographs of finished products (and the stages before that) and an evaluation of their work (the finished product).

We follow the Design and Technology Association’s ‘Projects on a Page’ from Year 1 to Year 6, which meets the statutory and non-statutory elements of the National Curriculum. This ensures the children are taught the correct skills, knowledge and understanding to make progress in Design and Technology. This includes:

• A range of projects with a clear purpose and outcome.
• A consistent approach to the design process.
• A development of technical vocabulary.
• Over Key Stage 1 and 2, five aspects of D&T are taught: Mechanisms, Textiles, Food, Structures and Electrical Systems.

Impact

Children see themselves as real designers, where they design, make and evaluate products for a specific purpose.  They develop a range of skills that can be applied to other areas of the school curriculum, for example, Mathematics, Science, Art and Computing, as well as building on skills for life. Children will increase their confidence in key competencies, such problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, negotiation and perseverance.