Design Technology

The Design and Technology curriculum at Broseley C of E school is taught through the progression of knowledge. Design and Technology lessons are taught weekly, for a half term, three times a year.  All children will design, make, evaluate, and use technical knowledge within food technology, textiles and structures. They will learn how to develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully.

Every project will have a ‘Big Question’, the children will then think and share their ideas, understanding that each product must have a purpose. Each year they will build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, skills and understanding to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users. The children are taught how to critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others will throughout each element.

At Broseley C of E Primary, in Design and Technology we aim to offer opportunities for children to:

• Develop imaginative thinking in children and to enable them to talk about what they like and dislike when designing and making.
• Enable children to talk about how things work, and to draw and model their ideas.
• Encourage children to select appropriate tools and techniques for making a product, whilst following safe procedures.
• Explore attitudes towards the man-made world and how we live and work within it.
• Develop an understanding of technological processes, products, and their manufacture, and their contribution to our society.
• Foster enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making.
• Understand and apply the principles of a healthy diet.
• Understand where food comes from and the issues of seasonality.

 
Our aim is to empower our children so they can aspire to become an expert in the rapidly expanding world of Design and Technology. We want children to be solution driven thinkers of the future.

Implementation: How is Design Technology taught at Broseley C of E? 

The curriculum is carefully sequenced to ensure that pupils build on the knowledge and skills they have been taught. In addition to this, the key design and technology threads are built into each unit of work. The 6 threads in which our units are considered and built up from include: user, purpose, functionality, design decisions, innovation, and authenticity. Teachers will plan to incorporate these key aspects into their sequence of learning.
 
User: Pupils should have a clear idea of who they are designing and making products for, considering
their needs, wants, values, interests and preferences

Purpose: Pupils should be able to clearly communicate the purpose of the products they are designing and making. Each product they create should be designed to perform one or more defined tasks.

Functionality: Pupils should design and make products that work/function effectively in order to fulfil users’ needs, wants and purposes.

Design Decisions: Pupils need opportunities to make their own design decisions. Making design decisions allows pupils to demonstrate their creative, technical and practical expertise, and use learning from other subjects.

Innovation: When designing and making, pupils need some scope to be original with their thinking. Projects that encourage innovation lead to a range of design ideas and products being developed and are characterised by engaging open-ended starting points for learning.

Authenticity: Pupils should design and make products that are believable, real and meaningful to themselves and others.

Our medium terms plans are designed to create consistency throughout our approach to teaching Design and Technology. Each teacher will plan on our shared planning document. This will ensure the progression will be built into our teaching and learning. Each unit of work requires the teachers to focus directly on the skills taken from the National Curriculum in the key areas of designing, making, evaluation and technical knowledge. We use our school progression document so teachers can break down the skills in small enough steps to be manageable for their age of child. Once the objectives have clearly been identified, we use ‘Projects on a Page’ to help us structure the body of the lessons.

Planning is sequenced in the following way to ensure consistency when moving between year groups and key stages in preparation for transition to secondary school and beyond. Although this sequence is not fully followed in Reception, teachers in the EYFS team ensure that key elements of Design Technology learning are addressed.

Design Technology visits and visitors are planned to inspire children, to allow them a glimpse into the future of which they will soon be stepping out into. At Broseley, we have guest speakers from all aspects of industry. Further to this, we aim to take as many children into experiencing the working world of technology as we can.

Digital technology

In KS2, we will be developing our digital technologies to include 2D CAD design, 3D CAD design and programming and control. The children will use software including Silhouette Studio and Tinkercad. Further to this, in UKS2 we are part of the STEM National Centre for Computing Education which allows us blocked access to whole class Microbit and Crumble technology packs.  This access allows us hardware to develop programming and control into our DT units.

Health and safety

Considering risk and how to manage it is a key skill that our pupils need to develop. Even though the risks are mainly considered and maintained by the teaching staff, it is important that children are encouraged to become part of this thinking process. The children need to develop their own self-awareness and awareness of the safety of others within their environment. Demonstrations and key safety information will always be shared with the children.

Please have a look at our Long Term Plan, to see what is being taught in classrooms each term: Design Technology Long Term Plan