Subject Lead: Mrs Heritage

Design & Technology

Statement of Intent

Here at Holtspur the intent of our curriculum is to deliver an inspiring curriculum for all pupils where each lesson helps them to achieve to the best of their ability in a nurturing and caring environment. With a clear purpose and immersive activities for their learning, children are provided with tangible experiences that will allow them to build upon solid foundations of enquiry, make observations, discuss ideas and build upon prior knowledge to plan items for a specific purpose against a design brief.  We want pupils to be innovative and creative thinkers, 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. Throughout, we aim to build an awareness of the impact of design and technology on our lives and encourage pupils to become resourceful, enterprising citizens who will have the skills to contribute to future design advancements.

Implementation

We deliver Design and Technology through the Kapow scheme of work. This takes the National Curriculum Design and technology attainment targets as its key Primary strands.

• Design
• Make
• Evaluate
• Technical knowledge

Cooking and nutrition* has a separate section, with a focus on specific principles, skills and techniques in food, including where food comes from, diet and seasonality.  

Cooking and nutrition is given a particular focus in the National curriculum and it is one of our six key areas that pupils revisit throughout their time in primary school:

• Cooking and nutrition
• Textiles
• Mechanisms/ Mechanical systems
• Electrical systems (KS2 only)
• Structures
• Digital world (KS2 only)

Each of our key areas follows the design process (design, make and evaluate) and has a particular theme and focus from the technical knowledge or cooking and nutrition section of the curriculum. Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including practical hands-on, computer-based and inventive tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.

Lessons take place in the classroom, or in our fully equipped kitchen, or in our purpose built ‘Nest’ - a separate building with a dedicated D&T resource area that allows for lessons to be flexible for each learner.

Impact

The expected impact of following the Kapow Primary Design and technology scheme of work is that children will:

➔        Understand the functional and aesthetic properties of a range of materials and resources.

➔        Understand how to use and combine tools to carry out different processes for shaping, decorating, and manufacturing products.

➔        Build and apply a repertoire of skills, knowledge and understanding to produce high quality, innovative outcomes, including models, prototypes, CAD, and products to fulfil the needs of users, clients, and scenarios.

➔        Understand and apply the principles of healthy eating, diets, and recipes, including key processes, food groups and cooking equipment.

➔        Have an appreciation for key individuals, inventions, and events in history and of today that impact our world.

➔        Recognise where our decisions can impact the wider world in terms of community, social and environmental issues.

➔        Self-evaluate and reflect on learning at different stages and identify areas to improve.

➔        Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Design and technology.

We encourage children to become literate designers and engineers of the future using discussion skills to develop the correct vocabulary/terminology throughout the independent planning and design elements of each topic. Ultimately, by the time children reach Year 6, pupils should leave school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and be innovative and resourceful members of society.  Many children say D&T is one of their favourite subjects here at Holtspur and we hope to inspire boys and girls to be the designers of the future - from carpenters to technological engineers and every designer and technician in between!

  Catapult making                                            Kite making                                     Puppet Making                  Sewing