Intent
We believe that children’s technical knowledge the skills of designing, making, evaluating are key to children’s learning in Design Technology and therefore we intend to teach DT as a predominantly discrete subject. This way, we can be specific with the teaching and development of these skills and let them be the focus of each project. It is the intent of Hindley Junior and Infant School for Design and Technology to be taught in all year groups at least once per term with a variety of aspects of Design Technology.
As Hindley Junior and Infant School is in an area with a generally low socio-economic status, we are passionate about teaching our children the basic skills of Cooking and Nutrition and so we have chosen to teach this aspect in each year group. Children will have the opportunity to make a wide range of dishes which we believe achieves a healthy and realistic ratio of 80/20 healthy and less healthy (or healthful foods). We feel that the vocabulary surrounding nutrition is extremely important as it is catered to our children and based on their needs and lifestyles.
Key objectives
Key objectives of intent within the Design Technology Curriculum based on the National Curriculum 2014 guidance are:
- Products to be made for a purpose
- Individuality should be ensured in children’s design and construction of products
- Delivery of the two strands: Designing and Making and Cooking and Nutrition
- More emphasis given on creating ‘innovative’ products in KS2
- Teaching the importance of making on-going changes and improvements during making stages
- Looking into seasonality of ingredients and how they are caught, grown or reared
- The introduction of computing and coding of products in KS2
- Researching key events and individual designers in KS2.
In addition, Hindley Junior and Infant School are committed to including a variety of relevant individuals to highlight and promote diversity and inclusion.
Aims
The national curriculum for Design and Technology aims to ensure that all pupils:
- Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise need 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 prepare and cook basic meals or snacks
Finally, our Design Technology curriculum aims to embed our seven characteristics within all of our children:
- Resilience
- Determination
- Confidence
- Cooperation
- Ambition
- Respect
- Honesty
Implementation
Research suggests D&T is one of primary-aged children’s favourite subjects and we believe it to be a crucial part of school life and learning. Hindley Junior and Infant School implement the ‘Projects on a Page’ scheme of work with well planned and resourced projects for our Design Technology curriculum. Projects on a Page maximises children’s enjoyment by providing scope for teachers to meet children’s needs and interests through creative and motivating projects within a range of contexts. By doing this, our children have a clear and comprehensive curriculum in which they will learn more, do more and remember more.
Design and Technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject, requiring creativity, resourcefulness, and imagination. Pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts whilst focusing on making something, for somebody, with some purpose. Through the evaluation of past and present technology, children can reflect upon the impact of Design Technology on everyday life and the wider world. We have specifically chosen a wide range of relevant people for children to study; including people who are not generally reflected within our current society with the purposeful inclusion of Black people, people of colour and women.
Food technology is implemented across the school in every year group with children developing a good understanding of where food comes from, the importance of a varied and healthy diet and how to prepare several dishes that take this into account. Vocabulary around food and nutrition is purposely meaningful with the words ‘healthy/healthful’ used to give children positive attitudes toward food and the choices that they can make with it. Each ‘dish’ has been carefully planned to create a spiral curriculum which builds on children’s skills, capabilities and confidence in the kitchen and when shopping for food in the ‘real world.’
Impact
The intended impact of our DT curriculum is for the majority of children to meet or exceed the expected standards for their age in each year group. In addition, we aim to achieve the following outcomes:
- Children will have clear purpose, enjoyment and confidence in Design Technology.
- Children will do more, know more, remember more and understand more about Design Technology, demonstrating this knowledge when using tools, or skills in other areas of their school or home life.
- Children will have a good understanding of the importance of good nutrition and how to choose ingredients to make simple snacks or meals that will promote health.
To track and measure the impact of DT teaching, we use Insight, our online assessment tool that aligns directly with our curriculum. This allows teachers to instantly monitor how individual classes or year groups are performing against our curriculum targets, helping to identify and address any gaps in learning. In addition to Insight, the subject leader conducts informal learning walks and pupil interviews, alongside reviewing children’s work, to ensure that learning objectives are met and knowledge can be recalled when prompted. These assessments show that pupils are not only engaged and excited about DT but also able to retain and apply what they’ve learned, demonstrating the effectiveness of our curriculum.