Design and Technology

"High- quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation" 

The National Curriculum

At Alwoodley Primary school we strive to creatively design and make products that solve real and relevant problems.

Intent

At Alwoodley Primary School, our Design and Technology curriculum intends to be inspiring, practical, meaningful and memorable.  Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts. 

Within Design and Technology children will learn and build on a range of practical and technical skills (see progression of skills), testing their ideas and critiquing and evaluating both their own products and the work of others.   Our intent is that the golden threads of Alwoodley are woven through the D & T curriculum and will help to equip children with life skills, knowledge and understanding.  Golden thread one- cognitive education will be promoted so that children can plan, think creatively, solve problems, consider the needs of others, take risks, be resourceful, be innovative and be enterprising. 

‘High- quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation’ (The National Curriculum)

Golden thread two- a love of reading will be evident as pupils read about inspirational designers.  From yr2 upwards, a focus on designers that have shaped the world enables children to gain a deeper understanding of the skills and traits of a successful designer. 

Across all year groups children should be designing and making Something for Somebody for Some Purpose.  Considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values links with our third golden thread- PSHE.  There will also be increased opportunities for computer aided design in, using Purple Mash in reception, Year 3 and the use of programmable computer systems such as Crumble controllers in Year 6.

Projects are often cross-curricular and support a broad range of subject knowledge, drawing on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art.  There will also be an additional cooking lesson which maybe a DT lesson or maybe more cross curricular but will involve the children practising the cooking skills identified on the Alwoodley progression of skills in cooking document.

Implementation

Our curriculum offers a range of exciting units that solve real and relevant problems. Through these units, we also learn and apply a set of technical skills including structures, mechanisms, electrical control and a range of materials, including food. The children also draw upon knowledge and skills within Maths, Science, computing and Art.

We implement the curriculum through giving the children real and relevant problems to solve, making cross curricular links to broaden our understanding, offering enrichment opportunities like workshops and competitions and creating real products that serve a purpose.

Impact

Children have a set of DT skills embedded. They can talk about real life designers or designs and the impact they have had on the world. They have developed and become confident in the many characteristics of learning such as: resilience, resourcefulness, creativity and problem solving.

We use a range of strategies to assess these skills and knowledge including the following:

*Book monitoring

*Self assessment

*Pupil voice

*Feedback each lesson

To see our daring designers in action, please look at our Twitter page @AlwoodleyPS

If you have any questions regarding the curriculum we teach please contact the school directly.