Our Design Technology
Intent
Bentley New Village primary’s Design and technology scheme of work aims to inspire pupils to be innovative and creative thinkers who have an appreciation for the product design cycle through ideation, creation, and evaluation. We want pupils to develop the confidence to take risks, through drafting design concepts, modelling, and testing and to be reflective learners who evaluate their work and the work of others. Through our scheme of work, we aim to build an awareness of the impact of design and technology on our lives and encourage pupils to become resourceful, enterprising citizens who will have the skills to contribute to future design advancements.
Our Design and technology scheme of work enables pupils to meet the end of key stage attainment targets in the national curriculum and the aims also align with those in the national curriculum.
Implementation
The Design and technology curriculum outlines the three main stages of the design process: design, make and evaluate. Each stage of the design process is underpinned by technical knowledge which encompasses the contextual, historical, and technical understanding required for each strand. Cooking and nutrition has a separate section, with a focus on specific principles, skills and techniques in food, including where food comes from, diet and seasonality. The Design and technology curriculum organises the Design and technology attainment targets under five subheadings or strands: Design, make, evaluate, technical knowledge and cooking and nutrition.
The Design and technology scheme has a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these five strands across each year group.
The skills are taught within each year group and these skills develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage.
Design technology is taught through six key areas. (Mechanisms, structures, textiles, cooking and nutrition, electrical systems and the digital world. Each of these key areas follow the design process (design, make and evaluate) and have a particular theme and focus from the technical knowledge or cooking and nutrition section of the curriculum. The scheme followed is a spiral curriculum, with key areas revisited again and again with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revisit and build on their previous learning.
Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including practical hands-on, computer-based and inventive tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles.
Impact
The impact of the DT scheme can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Each lesson includes guidance to support teachers in assessing pupils against the learning objectives. Furthermore, each unit has a unit quiz and knowledge catcher which can be used at the start and/ or end of the unit. After the implementation of Design and technology scheme, pupils should leave school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and be innovative and resourceful members of society. The expected impact of following the Design and technology scheme of work is that children will:
- Understand the functional and aesthetic properties of a range of materials and resources.
- Understand how to use and combine tools to carry out different processes for shaping, decorating, and manufacturing products.
- Build and apply a repertoire of skills, knowledge and understanding to produce high quality, innovative outcomes, including models, prototypes, CAD, and products to fulfil the needs of users, clients, and scenarios.
- Understand and apply the principles of healthy eating, diets, and recipes, including key processes, food groups and cooking equipment.
- Have an appreciation for key individuals, inventions, and events in history and of today that impact our world.
- Recognise where our decisions can impact the wider world in terms of community, social and environmental issues.
- Self-evaluate and reflect on learning at different stages and identify areas to improve.
- Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Design and technology.
- Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Computing.
