Intent
Design and Technology helps to prepare children for the developing world. It is our intent 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.
Our aim is for our children to use their imagination and creativity to design and make a range of products, drawing on their mathematics, science, computing, and art knowledge.
In food technology lessons, pupils will be given the opportunity to cook, understand the importance of nutrition and healthy eating as well as acquiring important life skills.
Implementation
At Great Corby School and Nursery, we follow the Kapow Primary scheme of work which 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.
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, which focuses 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 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
- Electrical systems
- Cooking
- Textiles
- Digital world
- Nutrition
Through these key areas the children have opportunities to create, explore, apply and problem solve.
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.
Each unit of lessons includes teaching aids and visual instruction for pupils, to support both the teaching of skills and techniques, as well as pupils’ learning. Using Kapow, we aim to deliver lessons of a high standard and ensure pupil progression.
Impact
After the implementation of Kapow Primary’s DT scheme, pupils should leave primary school equipped with a range of techniques and the confidence and creativity to form a solid foundation for further learning at Key Stage 3 and beyond.
The expected impact of following the Kapow Primary Design and Technology scheme of work is that children will:
The expected impact of following the Kapow Primary Design and Technology scheme of work is that children will:
- Understand purpose in design and making.
- Develop imaginative thinking.
- Talk about the mechanics of objects/products and model their ideas.
- Develop problem solving skills.
- Develop, refine, and apply skills.
- Be able think critically about their own and others work.
- Understand and apply the principles of healthy eating.
- Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National Curriculum.
The impact of our design and technology curriculum is measured through the monitoring cycle in school:
- Lesson observations
- Book monitoring
- Learning walks
- Discussions with class teachers
- Discussions with pupils
Monitoring is used to measure the following:
- Children enjoy and are enthusiastic about design and technology in our school.
- There is a clear progression of children’s work and teachers’ expectations in our school.
- Children’s work shows a range of topics and evidence of the curriculum coverage for all design and technology topics.
- Feedback from teachers has an impact on our pupils.
- All children are making progress, including EAL, PP and SEND children.
Monitoring is also used to identify gaps in the curriculum that may need to be addressed across the school, or within individual year groups. Monitoring is an ongoing cycle, which is used productively to provide the best possible design and technology curriculum for our children.
Senior leaders and subject leaders regularly undertake book studies to monitor the effectiveness of teaching and learning. This includes sessions with small groups of pupils using questioning to check and ensure information and knowledge is acquired and understood with increasing confidence. Feedback is given to teaching staff to inform future planning.
After the implementation of our design and technology curriculum, pupils should leave primary school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and to be able to enjoy and appreciate design and technology throughout their lives.
