Intent
The National Curriculum states that Design and Technology should be an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject where pupils can use their creativity and imagination; here at St Lawrence CE Primary we strive to ensure that children have the ability to do just that. We believe that it is crucial for children to be given the opportunity to develop their problem-solving skills through designing and testing a range of products during their time with us – building on the practical skills taught across a seven-year period. Children are able to draw on their knowledge from mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art to support their learning in DT. They will learn how to manage risk and work safety with the range of tools and equipment needed for each project - having opportunities to develop this further by exploring link opportunities with our local secondary schools.
Implementation
The children’s Design and Technology experiences start within our EYFS curriculum; pupils are given the opportunity to build and ‘make’ using their imagination and knowledge of the world through construction corners, mathematics lessons and exploratory play. They are able to bake in small groups, gaining an understanding of food and how products are made.
These foundations are then then built upon in KS1 and KS2 where each year group has the opportunity to complete both a practical ‘designing and making’ project and a ‘cooking and nutrition’ project per year. We believe it is important for children to build on their skills and knowledge each year; with this in mind, the key skills and knowledge needed for DT in each year group has been mapped out carefully across key stages to ensure progression is evident. All of our units of work follow the National Curriculum structure of ‘Design, Make and Evaluate’. Children have the opportunity to adapt their designs when problems occur and are encouraged to refer back to technical knowledge and vocabulary during the problem-solving process.
Impact
At St Lawrence, we believe that children will develop and build on their knowledge and skills in DT each year they are with us. Therefore, progress will be made each year when pupils are able to apply their prior skills to new topics. Throughout their years at St Lawrence, progress will be monitored in DT using our foundation assessment framework. Teachers will be able to make informed decisions, using specific year group assessment guidance, about a pupil’s attainment through observations during lessons and across both designing and nutritional projects. Children will be assessed as either ‘working towards, age related or greater depth’ after completing the year. This knowledge will then be available to the next teacher to support formative assessment, grouping and differentiated support.
We believe that ‘Evaluating’ is a skill which children should be confident in when leaving us in Year 6. Throughout their projects at St Lawrence, teachers plan time to think carefully about the success of a project. Children are encouraged to think about what went well, what they found challenging and what they may adapt or change in future designs. This reflective approach is developed during their time with us – even encouraging parents and other classes to test their products too when appropriate. When their St Lawrence journey comes to an end, our children will have gained a range of practical experiences and will have strong skills and subject knowledge which they can develop further at secondary school.