Design and Technology
Design and Technology at Willoughton:
At Willoughton Primary School we recognise how important the Design and Technology (D.T.) curriculum is. We aim to provide children with an education that responds to the rapidly changing world. The children will develop skills and attributes that they can use outside of school and into adulthood. We support the children to put their learning from other areas of the curriculum into practice and will work to enhance and deepen their understanding of those areas, including Maths, Computing, Science and Art. We believe a high-quality Design and Technology education should inspire, engage and challenge children - enabling pupils to learn valuable life skills, and understanding that things can and may need to change to work.
Our Intent:
Our intent is that our teaching of Design and Technology will help pupils to:
Taken from the National Curriculum.
- 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.
How we implement this:
At Willoughton Primary School, we will achieve this by:
- Design and Technology being taught throughout the year, linking to focused units of work.
- The children learn knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making.
- Teaching a predominantly skills-based curriculum, which covers, cooking, textiles and electrical circuits and construction on models. Full details of our Design and Technology curriculum can be found in our progression grids.
- Encouraging each child to evaluate their finished product and that of others, both with peers and adults.
- Celebrating effort, progress and achievement in art through displays and exhibitions.
- Encouraging children to use their sketch books as a place to practice and make mistakes, to show what does and doesn’t work within their practices and developments of final pieces.
- Using sketchbooks to complete annotated diagrams or pictures, of what the children are going to make and how they are going to make it work.
- Children are encouraged to enjoy and explore Design and Technology, using a range of skills they can use throughout their life.
The impact:
Our Design and Technology curriculum is designed to show progression of skills and support the children’s expression throughout different activities. By the time the children leave Willoughton Primary School, we want them to be confident to design and make their products and evaluate what they have made and how they can change or improve for next time. We measure the impact of our curriculum through book looks, informal learning walks by the subject leader and pupil voice, to hear what the children have to say about the subject. We want the children to enjoy what they are learning and have the chance to try different things.
For any queries relating to Design and Technology at Willoughton Primary School, please contact Miss Delaney our Subject Leader.
