Design and Technology
A Design and Technology Education at St Peter’s means that children leaving in year 6 have experienced:
A high-quality Design and Technology education, preparing them to take part in the development of tomorrow’s rapidly changing world. Children will have been encouraged to become autonomous and creative problem solvers, both as individuals and as part of a team. They will have been given opportunities to identify needs and to respond by developing ideas, and make products and systems.
Our Design and Technology curriculum helps all children to become discriminating and informed consumers and potential innovators.
Intent for Design and Technology at St Peter’s
At St Peter’s Primary School, we aim to inspire pupils to be innovative and creative thinkers who have an appreciation for the product design cycle. 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.
We follow the Kapow Primary’s Design and Technology scheme of work which is written by experts in their field and designed 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.
Kapow Primary’s Design and Technology scheme of work supports pupils in Years 1 to 6 to meet the end of key stage attainment targets in the National curriculum.
The Kapow Primary’s Design and Technology scheme of work is planned and sequenced to teach skills and knowledge which are built upon each year. Teachers can adapt lessons within the units to suit the needs of their cohort. The scheme provides a clear skills progression taking pupils through the design, make and evaluate process as well as teaching the technical knowledge for each area of Design and Technology.
Implementation of our Design and Technology Curriculum at St Peter’s
The Design and Technology National 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 National curriculum organises the Design and technology attainment targets under five subheadings or strands:
● Design
● Make
● Evaluate
● Technical knowledge
● Cooking and nutrition
Kapow Primary’s Design and Technology scheme has a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these five strands across each year group. Through Kapow Primary’s Design and Technology scheme, pupils respond to design briefs and scenarios that require consideration of the needs of others, developing their skills in six key areas:
● Mechanisms
● Structures
● Textiles
● Food
● Electrical systems (KS2) and
● Digital world (KS2)
Each key area follows the design process (design, make and evaluate) and has a particular theme and focus from the technical knowledge or cooking and nutrition section of the curriculum. The Kapow Primary scheme 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. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.
Strong subject knowledge is vital for our staff to be able to deliver a highly effective and robust Design and Technology curriculum. Each unit of lessons from Kapow Primary includes multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support ongoing CPD.
Impact of our Design and Technology Curriculum at St Peter’s
By following our Design and Technology curriculum at St Peter’s Primary School, 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.