What is Design and Technology?

“DESIGN IS NOT JUST WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE AND FEELS LIKE. DESIGN IS HOW IT WORKS” -STEVE JOBS

 

“DO WHAT YOU DO SO WELL THAT THEY WILL WANT TO SEE IT AGAIN AND BRING A FRIEND”-WALT DISNEY

Design and Technology prepares children to deal with tomorrow’s rapidly changing world. It encourages children to become independent, creative problem solvers and thinkers as individuals and part of a team. It enables them to identify needs and opportunities and to respond to them by developing a range of ideas and by making products and systems. Through the study of Design and Technology, they combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues, as well as functions and industry. This allows them to reflect on and evaluate past and present technology, its uses and impacts. 

Intent

At Calcot Schools it is our intent to build a Design Technology curriculum, which not only develops learning and results in the acquisition of knowledge and skills but ignites a passion for a subject which is vital in our product driven society of today. We hope to inspire our children to be our future designers, architects, engineers and manufacturers.

We intend to design a design technology curriculum with appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum Design Technology Programmes of study, to fulfil the duties of the National Curriculum whereby schools must provide a balanced and broadly-based curriculum which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils and prepares them for the opportunities and responsibilities and experiences for later life.

Implementation

At Calcot School we will implement a curriculum that:

Is clear and comprehensive and in line with the National Curriculum. The Design Technology National Curriculum and EYFS is planned for and covered in full within the EYFS, KS1 and KS2 school curriculum. Whilst the EYFS and National Curriculum forms the foundation of our curriculum, we make sure that children learn additional skills, knowledge and understanding and enhance our curriculum so that it builds on prior learning and allows for children to excel at all levels.

Enables our children to undertake projects with a design or engineering focus, a textile focus and a food/nutrition topic.

Delivers a design process where each project has a clear design specification, enables thorough research of current products, has opportunities to design and or innovate products for a target audience, develops making skills and encourages careful evaluation.

Teaches a range of skills, ensuring that children are aware of health and safety issues related to the tasks undertaken.

Has relevant links and opportunities to IT that will support the design process through the use of simple CAD/CAM (Computer aided design/Computer aided manufacturing.)

Includes clear and appropriate cross curricular links to underpin learning in multi areas across the curriculum giving the children opportunities to learn life skills and apply skills to ‘hands on’ situations in a purposeful context.

Allows our children to record their design technology learning journey by presenting their work appropriately for their age. This will include design booklets that will show some or all of the following: design brief, design specification, research, mood boards, research into current products, data gathered from their target audience, annotated designs, exploding diagrams and evaluation, including their design changes and target audience feedback.

Celebrates the outstanding three dimensional creations of the children by displaying them throughout the school. These displays celebrate exceptional practice and exemplify terminology and vocabulary used.

Allows for independent learning as this enables the children to problem solve and have ownership over their curriculum and lead their own learning in Design Technology.

Allows for collaborative learning as this enables the children to work as part of a team learning to support and help one another towards a challenging, yet rewarding goal.

 

Impact

By providing our children with an excellent design and technology curriculum that provides a wide range of opportunities to develop their skills in design and technology we hope that our children will:

Be engaged and motivated to do well in their design and technology learning.

Build upon their prior learning and develop their skills which will in turn manifests itself in confident design and technology learners.

Achieve age related expectations in Design Technology.

Have a clear understanding of the importance and relevance of Design and Technology in the world today.  With some aspiring to possibly pursue a career in architecture, design, product design, engineering and in the culinary fields;

Develop skills and attributes they can use beyond school and into adulthood.

To measure the impact of the implementation of our Design and technology curriculum there will be ongoing monitoring of children's understanding, knowledge and skills by the class teacher, throughout lessons. This assessment is then used to inform differentiation, support and challenge required by the children.
Summative assessment is conducted by each year group after a unit of work. This then informs the subject leader of progress or skills and knowledge still to be embedded and is reported to parents on an annual basis. This information is recorded on a class assessment grid.
Design Technology is also monitored by the subject leader throughout the year in the form of book monitoring, looking at outcomes and pupil interviews to discuss their learning and understanding and establish the impact of the teaching taking place.

EYFS pupils' progress and attainment is tracked using evidence from Tapestry and the staff assessment grids to tell us whether each individual child is working towards expected, at expected or working at greater depth for their age.