Intent – What does the Design and Technology curriculum intend to do?
Anything human-made as been designed and engineered in some way. Buildings, machines, computers, home products, fashion and homes are all examples of design and technology in the real world. At Kildwick CE school we intend to support children to master Design and Technology to such an extent that they can make use of design and technology effectively in their everyday lives and could go on to have careers within Design and Technology if they wanted to. Our children will be taught Design and Technology in a way that ensures progression of skills, and follows a sequence to build on previous learning.
Each unit of work taught will be guided by three key principles: that children should be designing something, for somebody and for some purpose.
Our children will gain experience and skills of a wide range of formal elements of design and concepts of technology in a way that will enhance their learning opportunities. This should enable them to use design and technology across a range of subjects to be creative and to solve problems, ensuring they make progress in their learning.
We want to ensure that Design and Technology is embedded in our whole school curriculum and that opportunities for enhancing learning by using design and technology are always taken.
Implementation – How is the curriculum implemented?
We follow a broad and balanced Design and Technology curriculum that builds on previous learning and provides both support and challenge for learners. Knowledge checks will be used to ensure that key knowledge is embedded over time.
We follow a Design and Technology scheme from Kapow that ensures and progression of skills and covers all aspects of the Design and Technology curriculum. These units will consider things like:
- User
- Purpose
- Functionality
- Design Decisions
- Innovation
- Authenticity
All classes will be taught Design and Technology alongside other curriculum subjects in subject blocks towards the end of half terms in line with the Long Term Plan.
Children’s work and pictures of their work will be stored on the google drive and in floor books for reference and assessment. Records of knowledge checks will be stored in the children’s Books of Knowledge.
Impact – what progress will children make?
Our children enjoy and value Design and Technology and know why they are doing things, not just how. Children will understand and appreciate the value of Design and Technology in the context of their personal wellbeing and the creative and cultural industries and their many career opportunities.
Progress in Design and Technology is demonstrated through regularly reviewing and scrutinising children’s work, in accordance with our Design and Technology assessment policy to ensure that progression of skills is taking place. Namely through:
- Looking at pupils’ work, especially over time as they gain skills and knowledge
- Observing how children perform in lessons
- Talking to children them about what they know
- Reviewing knowledge checks.
The Design and Technology curriculum will contribute to children’s personal development in creativity, independence, judgement and self-reflection. This would be seen in them being able to talk confidently about their work, and sharing their work with others during the learning process and in subject monitoring.
Edited on 17.04.24 by CK