Design and Technology (D&T)

Pupils at Becket Primary will follow the KAPOW units of work to support the teaching of Design Technology. We teach all our design and technology lessons in block units to allow the children to become fully immersed in their learning and the units they are studying.

Intent

At Becket Primary School we use KAPOW for planning our lessons for pupils in Year 1-6, and are supported by the National Curriculum. Pupils in the Foundation Stage develop their DT skills though continuous provision as they follow the EYFS curriculum. We aim to link all our Design Technology teaching to our topics which change on a termly basis where appropriate. If it is not possible to link them, DT will be taught discretely from the topic. Teachers will follow their year group’s key learning skills for the design, make evaluate stages and integrate further skills from the unit they are teaching for example, food.

Design and Technology at Becket Primary School prepares children to take part in the development of tomorrow’s rapidly changing world. Creative thinking encourages children to make positive changes to their quality of life. The subject encourages children to become autonomous and creative problem solvers, both as individuals and as part of a team. It enables them to identify needs and opportunities and to respond by developing ideas, and eventually making products and systems. Through the study of design and technology, they combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues, as well as of functions and industrial practices. This allows them to reflect on and evaluate present and past design and technology, its uses and its impacts. Design and technology helps all children to become discriminating and informed consumers and potential innovators.

Implementation

The Design Technology National Curriculum and EYFS is planned for and covered in full within the EYFS, KS1 and KS2 school curriculum. Whilst the EYFS and National Curriculum forms the foundation of our curriculum, we make sure that children learn additional skills, have a depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding and enhance our curriculum as and when necessary.

During the Early Years Foundation Stage, the essential building blocks of children’s design and technology capability are established. There are many opportunities for carrying out D&T-related play activities in all areas of learning. It is very similar to the school process but it takes the whole foundation stage to complete. Initially children investigate, explore and have a go.

As time goes on they are expected to be more active learners and keep going when they encounter difficulty, until they are developing their own ideas and thinking critically. Specifically, ‘Designing and Making’ is identified and assessed as a strand within Expressive Art and Design and links closely to Art. By the end of the EYFS, most children should be able to:

Construct with a purpose in mind, using a variety of resources
Use simple tools and techniques competently and appropriately
Build and construct with a wide range of objects, selecting appropriate resources and adapting their work when necessary
Select the tools and techniques they need to shape, assemble and join materials they are using.

For pupils in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two, we have chosen to teach DT by using the Kapow scheme of work. Kapow is a clear and comprehensive scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum. This ensures there is a progression of skills and consistency of approach across the school whilst also ensuring that teachers and pupils are supported in developing skills and subject knowledge.

Kapow offers full coverage of the KS1 and KS2 Design & Technology curriculum and we have categorised our content into five areas: - Structures, Mechanisms, Electrical Systems, Cooking and Nutrition, Textiles. Aside from Electrical Systems, which is KS2 only, each of these acts as the focus for a topic within each year group.
There are then four strands that run through each topic: Design, Make, Evaluate and Technical Knowledge.
A range of skills will be taught ensuring that children are aware of health and safety issues related to the tasks undertaken
Clear and appropriate cross-curricular links underpin learning in multi areas across the curriculum giving the children opportunities to learn life skills and apply skills to ‘hands on’ situations in a purposeful context.
Design Technology focussed displays celebrating the outstanding three dimensional creations on display throughout the school. These displays celebrate exceptional practice and exemplify terminology and vocabulary used.
Independent learning: In design technology children may well be asked to solve problems and develop their learning independently. This allows the children to have ownership over their curriculum and lead their own learning in Design Technology.
Collaborative learning: In design and technology children may well be asked to work as part of a team learning to support and help one another towards a challenging, yet rewarding goal.

Impact

Our carefully structured DT curriculum provides opportunities additional to the National Curriculum endpoints, to build cultural capital and, through exposure in DT lessons to life-skills such as innovation and entrepreneurship.

Children at Becket Primary will have clear enjoyment and confidence in design and technology that they will then apply to other areas of the curriculum.

Our children will ultimately know more, remember more and understand more about Design Technology, demonstrating this knowledge when using tools or skills in other areas of the curriculum and in opportunities out of school. As designers, children will develop skills and attributes they can use beyond school and into adulthood.