Saint Mary’s Catholic Primary School

Design and Technology Curriculum Statement

Intent

At Saint Mary’s, our vision for Design and Technology is for pupils to use their creativity and imagination to design and make products that consider their own and others’ needs, wants and values. We use Kapow Primary’s Design and Technology Scheme of Work to support our curriculum. This 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 curriculum, 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. In the EYFS, pupils are able to achieve the Early Learning Goals at the end of Reception. EYFS learning aligns with Key Stage 1 and 2 to promote the skills and knowledge required for a successful start to Year 1.

Implementation

The Design and Technology National Curriculum outlines the three main stages of the design process: design, make and evaluate. The National Curriculum organises the Design and Technology attainment targets under four subheadings:

• Design
• Make
• Evaluate
• Technical knowledge

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.

Design and Technology is taught on a termly basis, alternating each half-term with Art. Units in our curriculum have been carefully selected so that the National Curriculum targets and strands are met by the end of each Key Stage. Furthermore, it ensure that pupils across EYFS and Key Stage 1 receive the basic skills needed that set the foundations for a future range learning across Key Stage Two. Our Progression of Knowledge and Skills document shows the skills that are taught within each year group from EYFS to Year 6, and how these skills develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage.

Pupils in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 respond to design briefs and scenarios that require consideration of the needs of others, developing their skills in the six key areas. Each of our key areas 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 follows 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 staff to be able to deliver a highly effective and robust Design and Technology curriculum. Each unit of lessons includes multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support ongoing CPD. The use of the Kapow Primary Design and Technology Scheme ensures that teachers feel supported to deliver lessons of a high standard that ensure pupil progression.

Impact

The impact of the scheme is constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment. Pupils are assessed against the learning objective in each lesson, and each unit has a unit quiz and knowledge catcher which can be used at the start and/or end of the unit. All of the above help teachers to identify and fill gaps in children’s learning. After the implementation of the 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 member of society.

Children should be able to:

• Understand the functional and aesthetic properties of a range of material and resources.
• Understand how to use and combine tools to carry out different process for shaping, decorating and manufacturing product.
• 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.
• 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 as outlined in the National Curriculum.