Curriculum Intent
At St. Joseph’s RCVA Primary School, we value Design and technology (DT) as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Design and technology provides the children with the opportunities to develop and extend skills and an opportunity to express their individual interests, thoughts and ideas. We intend to build ‘cultural capital’ - St. Joseph’s school lies in an area of deprivation. We have a higher than average level of disadvantaged pupils on roll. It is our intention to not only provide a clear, well taught national curriculum for DT - but go much further in raising aspirations of all of our pupils to reach their full potential in life.
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. At St.Joseph’s, 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.
Design and technology education begins well before children begin their formal schooling. Children constantly explore their world through a variety of activities and it is vital for us to continue to extend this. The child’s increasing understanding of the process of design and technology should match their intellectual and physical development throughout their primary education. Design and technology at St.Joseph’s should be taught through a combination of defined design and technology projects, the direct teaching of skills and through activities integrated within the learning of other National Curriculum subjects.
Aims
We aim to provide children with a DT education that is relevant in our rapidly changing world. We want to encourage our children to become problem solvers who can work creatively on a shared project. We believe that high-quality DT lessons will inspire children to think independently, innovatively and develop creative, procedural and technical understanding. Our DT curriculum provides children with opportunities to research, represent their ideas, explore and investigate, develop their ideas, make a product and evaluate their work. Children will be exposed to a wide range of media including textiles, food and woodwork; through this, children will develop their skills, vocabulary and resilience.
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.
At St. Joseph’s, we strive to provide a program of learning opportunities for all pupils to gain the basic knowledge and understanding, which underpin design and technology. In addition, we endeavour to provide continuity and progression for all pupils throughout the curriculum as they move through the school. We aim to ensure health and safety of all pupils during design and technology activities.
Curriculum Implementation
The teaching and implementation of the Design and Technology Curriculum at St. Joseph’s RCVA Primary School, is based on the National Curriculum and supported by Kapow Primary Scheme of work, ensuring a well-structured approach to this creative subject. The scheme ensures progression and repetition in terms of embedding key learning, knowledge and skills.
Staff teach a weekly Design and Technology lesson throughout each half term. This helps ensure sufficient time is allocated to D.T and that the subject matter can be revisited frequently, helping improve the rates of progression the children make. Pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts. It is taught as a distinct subject, which draws upon subject knowledge and skills within Mathematics, Science, History, Computing and Art.
Children learn to take risks, be reflective, innovative, enterprising and resilient. Through the evaluation of past and present technology they can reflect upon the impact of Design Technology on everyday life and the wider world.
Our range of content, enhanced by involvement with outside agencies (e.g. STEM), enrichment activities, as well as our visits to local businesses develops pupils’ cultural capital - when they see that DT is ‘everywhere’ and they see themselves as designers. They not only understand the value of design as leading to careers in that area but just as important is the transferability of their skills (problem solving, visualisation, evaluating, design for a particular purpose / consumer) for all sorts of jobs and careers. Whenever possible, visiting experts are planned to help enhance the learning experience and improve the potential for our children to retain what they have been taught, creating long-term memories. We believe it’s important to celebrate children’s design work and encourage displays within class and around the school giving children pride and a purpose to create.
Early Years Foundation Stage
During the EYFS pupils explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities.
The EYFS profile is intended to provide a reliable, valid and accurate assessment of each child’s attainment at the end of the EYFS. It is made up of an assessment of the child’s attainment in relation to the 17 early learning goal (ELG) descriptors. [DFE Early Adopter Handbook 2020]
ELG: Expressive Arts and Design
Creating with Materials ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
- Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function;
- Share their creations, explaining the process they have used;
- Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.
Curriculum Impact
Progress and Achievement
Our DT Curriculum is developing to provide well thought out lessons and topics that demonstrate progression. Through various workshops and interactions with experts and local organisations, children have the understanding that DT has changed our lives and that it is vital to the world’s future prosperity. Children learn the possibilities for careers in design & technology and also how their creative ideas, design and evaluation skills transfer to a range of jobs. Pupils begin to reduce their stereotypical views of which gender can do a particular job.
In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods: reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes; pupil discussions about their learning, which includes discussion of their thoughts, ideas, processing and evaluations of work. As designers, children will develop skills and attributes they can use beyond school and into adulthood.
Children are monitored on a regular basis to check their progress. We encourage all pupils to take responsibility for their own and their peers' learning. A range of Assessment for Learning strategies are used, for example peer marking – the children regularly peer mark and are encouraged to comment on each-others work using vocabulary related to the skill taught, evaluation, self-assessments, the use of talk partners and end of unit teacher/pupil evaluation. Through these, both children and adults are able to recognise and evaluate the progress being made.