Design & Technology
Intent
Design and Technology
Intent
At Eastbury Community School, we value Design and Technology
as an important part of our broad and balanced curriculum. A high-quality Design and Technology curriculum should inspire, engage and challenge children to communicate what they see, feel and think. The curriculum is designed to address the six Design and Technology principles: user, purpose, functionality, design decisions, innovation and authenticity.
Our curriculum ensures that children have the knowledge and skills to be able to explore, discuss and produce pieces of work that they are proud of.
Our pupils are given the opportunities to acquire and apply knowledge and understanding of components, mechanisms, control systems and building structures and a range of materials including food. Our curriculum is designed to help pupils to apply knowledge from other subjects such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics to create cross-curricular projects.
The national curriculum for art and design aims to ensure that all pupils:
- produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences
- become proficient in drawing, painting, sculpture and other art, craft and design techniques
- evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
- know about great artists, craft makers and designers, and understand the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
Implementation
At ECS Primary, we are guided by the National Curriculum for D&T (2014). The National Curriculum for D&T aims to ensure that all pupils:
- Cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating.
- Think imaginatively and talk about what they like and dislike when designing and making.
- Talk about how things work.
- Draw and model their ideas.
- Select appropriate tools and techniques for making a product, whilst following safe procedures.
- Develop specific skills (designing, making and evaluating), knowledge and understanding.
- Develop the ability to appreciate and critically appraise aesthetic and functional qualities of products and their own and others work.
- Be aware of health and safety in D&T and the wider world.
- Take enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making things.
- Evaluate the success of their design and to consider ways of improving it.
Impact
Design & Technology (D&T) prepares children to take part in the development of tomorrow’s rapidly changing world. The subject encourages children to identify needs and opportunities and then respond by developing ideas and eventually making products and systems. Through the study of D&T children combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues. This allows them to reflect upon and evaluate present and past D&T, its uses and its impacts. D&T helps all children become discriminating and informed consumers and potential innovators.
At ECS we aim to provide a relevant, challenging and enjoyable D&T curriculum to all children.
How is the curriculum sequenced?
At Eastbury, our Design and Technology Curriculum is sequenced from the National Curriculum. It is broken down into smaller steps to focus on the key skills for a unit of work. Each year group will complete three DT units over the year:
- Cooking (healthy eating)
- Designing, making and evaluating
- Models
How are you building on prior knowledge and skills?
The Design and Technology Curriculum is mapped out carefully to help develop children’s knowledge and skills throughout their journey at Eastbury. Skills are heightened by recapping and repeating each key unit of DT in more detail. Revisiting key skills help children build on their prior knowledge and develop the different skills they have previously used at ECS.
How are we implementing the recovery curriculum?
Following the school closures due to Covid-19, our priority is for children to feel safe and secure as they return to school. Our recovery curriculum focuses on looking at key concepts from the National Curriculum. From this, the Design and Technology Curriculum has been carefully sequenced to ensure we focus on any key skills that have been missed to close gaps in our children’s learning.
