Design & Technology

“Design is thinking made visual.” Saul Bass

“Imagination is the beginning of creation.” George Bernard Shaw

At Girnhill, through subject specific teaching children will develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.

We understand that Design and Technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. We promote:

  • All children being able to enjoy and participate in individual and collaborative learning
  • The continued promotion of a Design and Technology curriculum which provides engagement, challenge and support for all children
  • An environment that enables learning experiences which promote independence, co-operation and consideration of others’ needs, wants and values
  • A developing awareness, appreciation and understanding of social, moral, spiritual and cultural aspect of learning in relation to Design and Technology

Children will be encouraged to research, interpret and present themselves as a designer/technician whilst building and applying a high level of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality purposeful and functional products for a wide range of users. Children will learn to explore, take risks, evaluate and test their ideas and products as well as the work of others whilst being encouraged to talk like a designer/technician and use subject specific vocabulary with accuracy.

Children will have the opportunity to:

  • Experiment with ways of changing media
  • Learn how to safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function
  • Be encouraged to design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and others
  • Be supported to generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking, drawing, templates, and mock- ups and where appropriate to include technology
Intent
At Girnhill, Design and Technology is taught through the ambitious National Curriculum and the Early Years outcomes, enhanced by our wider themes linked with various curriculum areas. Through our high-quality Design and Technology curriculum, children will develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world. Children will be encouraged to research, interpret and present themselves as a designer/technician whilst building and applying a high level of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality, purposeful and functional products for a wide range of users. Children will learn to explore, evaluate and test their ideas and products, and the work of others whilst being encouraged to talk like a designer/technician and use subject specific vocabulary with accuracy.

 

The National Curriculum and EYFS statements are covered in full in our Design and Technology progression grids and long-term plans, which ensures a carefully thought out sequence of experiences, knowledge and skills that build on children’s prior knowledge. This ensures children are not only excited about their learning but also beginning to know more and remember more about their learning. Design and Technological skills, such as, planning, sewing, joining, evaluating, chopping and constructing are weaved throughout the topics in our two-year cycle, providing our children with opportunities to make pertinent links within the purposeful products they produce and their wider learning. We believe this enables our children to successfully retrieve knowledge from their long-term memory whilst building on skills as they move through school. Dual coded vocabulary is also planned with clear purpose and progression to allow children to develop their oracy and leave school being able to articulate their knowledge and understanding as designers/technicians within our increasingly technological world.

Implementation
We ensure that all teachers, including those who are non-specialists, are supported with the implementation of the curriculum; providing specific schemes of work to support all teachers in this area.

Based on Rosenshine’s theory, learners have the opportunity to revisit and build on prior knowledge consistently across the entire curriculum. Daily review activities are used at the beginning of every session in order to activate prior learning and give children a solid foundation that they can link their new learning to. High-quality modelling of skills and language is offered to our children and scaffolds are provided for children to access and support learning in every session.  We also ensure the children are familiar with the design cycle:

Design – use research and develop design criteria to design for a purpose and communicate their ideas through a range of mediums.

Make – use a wide range of tools and equipment with accuracy and use a wide range of materials and components according to their qualities

Evaluate – evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work

Through exposing children to this process, we aim to develop their technical knowledge and vocabulary in relation to structural design, mechanical and electrical systems, the integration of technology and food production and nutrition. Questions are progressively planned for and are used to check understanding and allow children to apply their D&T knowledge. Classroom working walls promote dual coded vocabulary that is specific to current learning as well as clear modelled examples.

Impact

Learners have the knowledge and skills to work like a designer/technician. Pupil voice will show that children can talk about their D&T knowledge and carefully evaluate their designs and products using subject specific vocabulary. When they leave each phase, most learners have the knowledge, skills and vocabulary necessary to progress to the next stage of their learning. As a result of high-quality teaching, learners make sustained progress in Design and Technology and their books will reflect their confidence in the use of the design cycle to design and make products from start to finish.