DT (Design & Technology) at St Joseph's

At St Joseph’s we aim to provide high quality Design & Technology experiences that are inspiring, imaginative and practical. Pupils at our school use creativity and innovation to design, make and evaluate products for different purposes, following design criteria. Design and technology is fully inclusive to every child and allows children to demonstrate their individuality and repertoire of knowledge and skills. Our aims are to: fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for design and technology, provide a broad and balanced curriculum, ensure the progressive development of knowledge and skills, to learn how to take risks, become resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens through evaluation of past and present design and technology, develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world using the language of design and technology.

Intent:

Design & Technology at St Joseph’s 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 ‘Kapow’ scheme of work along with our collaboration with ‘Phunky Foods’, 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.

Implementation:

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. DT is taught once per week, alternating with Art termly. Cooking and Nutrition is also taught once per year alongside our specialist teacher from ‘Phunky Foods’. The six key areas we teach are:

• Cooking and nutrition
• Mechanisms/ Mechanical systems
• Structures
• Textiles
• Electrical systems (KS2 only)
• Digital world (KS2 only

During DT lessons at St Joseph’s pupils 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 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. Teachers 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.

Impact:

The impact of the DT curriculum is constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Each lesson includes specific learning objectives and success criteria for children to follow. Furthermore, each unit has a unit quiz which is used at the start and end of the unit. Pupils should leave St Joseph’s 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 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.