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Design Technology

Intent – What we aim to achieve?

“Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God” Julia Cameron

At St. Patrick’s, we believe that Design and Technology is an essential part of children’s education. As a school, our School Mission Statement guides us on how to live out our faith in the world, form the foundations of how we treat each other and the world around us. Design and Technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. They acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. Pupils learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens, and designers of the future. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, pupils develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and wellbeing of the nation. Each unit of work reflects one of the Catholic Social Teaching (CST) principles: Dignity, Creation and the Environment, Solidarity, The Dignity of Work and Participation, Peace, The Common Good and Option for the Poor. Our curriculum map details the CST principle present in each unit of work.

At St. Patrick’s Primary School, we encourage children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve meaningful and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering the 3S principle of design and technology for the project: Something for Someone with Some purpose. In order to help us achieve this, we follow the Design and Technology Association’s nationally recognised Projects on a Page scheme.

Children will learn the following essential characteristics to help them become effective designers and technicians:

To develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.
To build and apply a repertoire of technical knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users.
To critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others.
To understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.

Design is what happens when people use creativity to solve problems.

Implementation – How do we achieve our aims?

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. Consequently, we have organised the teaching and implementation of the Design and Technology curriculum at St. Patrick’s Primary School under the four subheadings: Design, Make, Evaluate and Technical knowledge supported by DATA’s Projects on a Page documents.

Early Years Foundation Stage
What children learn in EYFS is crucial knowledge for them to build on in the future. The Characteristics of Effective Learning within the EYFS recognises how our youngest learn. The three characteristics, Playing and Exploring; Active Learning and Creating and Thinking Critically empowers adults to provide a hands-on approach to enable our youngest children to develop the early skills to help them to become designers. The three prime and four specific areas of learning detailed within the EYFS enrich our children’s learning experience by exposing them to a world of creativity, vocabulary and skills. Learning opportunities are implemented through physical development, communication and language, and expressive arts and design. Within different topics, physical development is explored through both fine and gross motor activities such as arts and crafts and the practice of using small tools. Feedback and support from adults allows children to develop proficiency, control and confidence. Through expressive arts and design, children have regular opportunities to engage with an extensive range of the arts, enabling them to explore and play with various media and materials developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The EYFS provide opportunities for pupils to work towards the Development Matters statements and the Early Learning Goals.

Key Stages 1 and 2
Long term: Our long-term overview is designed so that children encounter a balanced ‘diet’ of the different areas of the Design and Technology curriculum as they progress through St. Patrick’s: mechanics, structures, food, textiles and electronics. These are scheduled to complement other areas of the curriculum where appropriate to enable children to think deeper about the role of designers. The long-term overview includes links to the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching and how these underpin children consider themselves as designers.

Medium term: Design and Technology units are taught termly and alternate with the St. Patrick’s Art and Design programme. In some cases, such as food, units are ‘blocked’ to ensure projects are able to be seen through to a suitable conclusion. Planning originates from the Projects on a Page documents, which outline the knowledge and skills covered.

Short term: Teachers break down Projects on a Page into individual lessons taught either across a half term or, where suitable, as a block over a number of days.

The Design Process
The design process aims to empower children to think and act as designers in an ever-changing world.

Each unit of work encompasses four strands as follows:

1. Design
2. Make
3. Evaluate
4.Technical Knowledge

SEND
All pupils, regardless of need, are entitled to an excellent Design and Technology education. Lessons are carefully planned and resourced so that all children can access learning at an appropriate level that both engages them and challenges them to think and act as designers. To ensure that all children are included, appropriate adaptive teaching strategies are implemented to support individuals’ needs. We appreciate that just because a child has special educational needs, this does not preclude them from being strong, resilient, innovative designers.

Assessment
Design and Technology is assessed termly using a data tracker that covers the skills and progression for the year group and unit of work which links back to the outlined key learning on the Projects on a Page documents. A teacher judgement is made based on the child’s performance across the whole project not just the final product. Teachers assess each child’s skills in the strands as above when relevant, including cooking and nutrition. We use data analysis to ensure good progress is made throughout the class and children who need further support are identified and provided with additional support, guidance, and strategies.

Teachers utilise both formative and summative assessment strategies in the Design and Technology Curriculum at St. Patrick’s.

Formative Assessment (informal, timely, frequent, bitesize, continuous)
Regular discussions and carefully formulated questions are used to check children’s understanding. This continued dialogue between adult and pupil is helpful for the acquisition of practical skills and knowledge. Formative assessment strategies also help adults identify whether they need to adapt their teaching.

Summative Assessment (End of unit, formal, recorded)
This form of assessment checks how much of the curriculum has been learned. A judgement (working towards, expected or greater depth) is made by adults for each of the aims of the National Curriculum (Designing, Making, Evaluating and Technical Knowledge) within each unit of work. These judgements are reflective of the formative assessments conducted throughout the unit. They are not just based on the outcome of a finished product.

Vocabulary
Throughout their Design and Technology lessons, children are introduced to the key vocabulary set out by the Projects on a Page scheme that is important to their learning. They are then encouraged to use this when discussing their own designs and that of others.

"God has given us skills in all kinds of work done by designers…They are able to do all kinds of work and are skilful designers” Exodus 35:35.

Impact – How do we know if we’ve achieved our aim?

By the end of their time at St. Patrick's Primary School children will:

Develop a range of life skills, which they can use and develop beyond school life
Display confidence and enjoyment in Design and Technology
Use and apply skills across the curriculum, making meaningful connections in purposeful contexts
Have a resilient attitude in thinking and creating as designers
Be able to think critically and problem solve
Have ambitious, aspirational futures and an understanding of how to achieve these.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

Design and Technology teacher assessments based on the planned outcomes referring to the National Curriculum and the key knowledge identified in Projects on a Page. (Attainment Data)

Revisit and Review discussions at the beginning and end of each unit to check children’s retention of key learning.

Children’s Design and Technology books capture a progression of taught skills and knowledge. (Book Looks, Lesson Visits)

Children can speak about what they have created using appropriate vocabulary which also refers to their understanding of technical knowledge. (Pupil Voice, Lesson Visits)