Design and Technology

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Purpose of study

Design and technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. They acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. Pupils learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.

Aims

The national curriculum for design and technology aims to ensure that all pupils:

• develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
• build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users
• critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
• understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook

Intent

At New Horizons, we aim for our children to see themselves as competent designers. When faced with a design brief, we want our children to have the creativity and practical and technical skills to create quality products, which are fit for a real purpose.

We want our children to be able to evaluate their own and others’ work effectively. Through the use of prototypes, their own reflections and feedback from others, we aim for them to be able to identify how to adapt and improve upon initial design ideas and have the resilience and knowledge to solve problems that arise in a practical manner.

We also aim for all our children to understand the importance of nutrition as part of a healthy and active lifestyle and to have all prepared, cooked and tasted a range of healthy dishes over their time here.

Implementation

Our immersive Design and Technology blocked units allow our children to develop their skills through a wide range of practical, hands-on experiences.

The blocked units also ensure that when our children work through the design process, their work flows uninterrupted from one stage to the next:

Evaluate – Design – Make (Technical Knowledge) – Evaluate.

This allows them to become thoroughly familiar with each stage of the design process as well as seeing the process as a whole. The Design and Technology booklets the children record their ideas and evaluations in support this.

Throughout our Design and Technology units, our children are provided with the opportunities to independently and collaboratively create prototypes of their designs for a wide range of uses, test and evaluate the products that they and others have created and make improvements based upon their reflections.

Our Design and Technology units are often linked to other areas of the curriculum, helping to bring more creativity into the classroom and ensure cross-curricular links are being implemented. The skills and knowledge taught in individual projects is referenced, drawn on and built upon in later units as part of our Knowledge Led Curriculum.

As part of our curriculum implementation, each year group makes use of our Food Tech room to develop their knowledge of nutrition and healthy eating and to learn practical cooking skills to this end.

Impact

Our children gain the key skills and knowledge as set out in the Design and Technology section of the National Curriculum.

The full design process for each unit is recorded in the children’s individual Design and Technology booklets and final products are celebrated in class and often around the school in corridor displays. Design and Technology units also very much lend themselves to developing the key DREAMS qualities in our children.

By the end of Year 6, our children will be able to design a product to meet the intended purpose in the design brief. The children will also be confident in using the design cycle:

Evaluate – Design – Make (Technical Knowledge) – Evaluate

They will have the skills to create and construct the product, adapting as necessary through the building process. The children are reflective and will be able to evaluate and adapt their ideas throughout the process. As the children move onto secondary school, we aspire to the children having a concrete understanding of construction skills, that they can use in their future.