Intent:

Our D and T curriculum aims to develop our children’s understanding of designing and making functional products for a real purpose. We want for our children to be immersed in purposeful, practical learning opportunities that enables them to acquire the skills and knowledge associated with the whole process of Design and Technology. Our children will understand the role that technology plays, explore real life products from the world in which we live, using them as ideas that allow them to innovate and make their own pieces. Our children will explore, design, make and evaluate throughout their D and T learning. Where appropriate, we endeavour to provide our children with representation through the Design and Technology curriculum.

Throughout their time with us, children acquire and apply knowledge and understanding of a range of materials encompassing the entire D and T curriculum: food and nutrition, mechanisms, structures, electronics and textiles. In doing this, our children will experiment with varying tools, materials and techniques that will support them in making high quality end products that are effective in fulfilling the purpose identified at the design stage. Built on the 2014 national curriculum, our curriculum is mapped out progressively and ensures that children are able to build on previous learning with opportunities to retrieve, reactivate and apply. Through doing this, our children will be able to use this knowledge to support their own design and making choices as they move through the curriculum.

Implementation:

Our curriculum is implemented to ensure that children have experienced the full breadth and depth of the National Curriculum programmes of study by the time they leave Y6, covering the design, make and evaluate process at every stage. This ensures that our children learn the disciplinary and substantive knowledge that will enable them to be successful in this area. Where possible and where appropriate, links are made to other areas of the curriculum.

Our Design and Technology curriculum makes clear to children that whatever they design and make has to be for a clear purpose and, where possible, this is linked to a real-life context. Children are given opportunities to be innovative through looking at current or past products that they can use as a basis for their own products. Across the subject, children are able to research, plan, create prototypes and refine before moving on to the making process. Children are given access to a range of tools and materials that they are able and encouraged to use in order to meet the specification and purpose of their designs and end product. Children are then encouraged to evaluate their end product against their own criteria, highlighting strengths and areas of development. We actively encourage our children to seek the perspective of others when evaluating. As the curriculum is progress, the expectation for the design, make and evaluate process grows in demand, in line with the age and expectation for the specific year group.

Impact:

Children will speak positively about their learning in Design and Technology, demonstrating secure knowledge of the design and technology process. Children will have developed the knowledge and skills that will enable them to be innovative and creative whilst understanding the role of the subject in modern times. They will have developed the appropriate skills and knowledge that will enable them to succeed beyond their time at Highfield.

The impact of the curriculum is measured through:

• Pupil progress and achievement data

• Learning walks, book monitoring and pupil voice

• Pupil conferencing

• Readiness for the next stage in their learning