Design and Technology
Intent
At Discovery Primary Academy, our Design & Technology Curriculum has been created with the aim of delivering inspiring lessons that provide the children with a variety of life skills as well as encouraging creativity, critical thinking and innovation.
We provide varied learning opportunities which aim to develop children’s technical skills in Design & Technology, develop their wider knowledge of product design and their ability to apply complex vocabulary accurately. The children learn how to be designers through purposeful projects that provide true-to-life experiences.
Our Design & Technology Curriculum covers all the skills and technical knowledge outlined in the National Curriculum through meaningful units of work that encourage children to challenge themselves. We ensure that we are providing opportunities to revisit skills taught in previous years to embed their learning and deepen their understanding of certain skills or concepts.
Implementation
Lessons are planned and delivered to reflect Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction. We begin with a daily review activity which acts as a recap of prior knowledge and can help to strengthen previous learning. Knowledge organisers have been written for each unit and have been adapted to identify the core knowledge that pupils who are New to English or SEND should acquire and an aspirational section that extends the knowledge that more able pupils should acquire.
In Key Stage 1:
Through meaningful and practical activities, the children learn how to design and make functional and appealing products. They are taught how to safely use a variety of tools, express themselves during the design process and evaluate both the process and the outcome. We ensure that the projects have a purpose and can have a ‘real-world’ application. For example, in Year 1, the children learn about mechanisms by exploring different toys and comparing modern day toys to toys from the past. They then are challenged to create their own pop-up toys that could be sold in our own school shop.
In Key Stage 2:
Within Key Stage 2, we ensure that the learning is just as practical and meaningful. As well as this, key events and individuals that have influenced the world of Design & Technology are covered in more depth and sophistication to ensure children can observe the wider context of Design & Technology.
Food Technology:
At Discovery, we have increased the number of food technology lessons being taught. This is in order to reflect the diversity of foods eaten by various different cultures, as well as to truly highlight the importance of healthy eating and teach vital life skills to the children from our community. The children will learn all about where their food comes from, experience a wide range of new foods from different cultures, how to stay safe in the kitchen and how to prepare and cook a variety of different foods.
Impact
Teachers continually assess children in Design & Technology lessons. Our Big Ideas are used as a reference for what practical skills, knowledge and vocabulary children should know by the end of each year group. This assessment is then used to inform teachers, to scaffold and challenge the children where required.
Design & Technology is also monitored by the subject leader throughout the year in the form of book monitoring, lesson observations and pupil interviews to discuss their learning and establish what children know and can remember once a unit of work has been completed.
We believe that the impact of a meaningful, enriching Design Technology Curriculum that imparts well-rounded, academic, cultural and learning is that we will support children in becoming well-rounded, global citizens with a rich cultural capital.
By the time pupils leave the academy at the end of Year 6, it is our intention that they will have a secure understanding of the design process and a good grasp of seven key concepts:
- User
- Purpose
- Design Decision
- Functionality
- Innovation
- Authenticity
- Nutrition