Design & Technology

Design & Technology at Stocksbridge Junior School

At Stocksbridge Junior School, every child is a designer. We want all our pupils to know that every time they engage in researching, designing and making a product, they are a designer. We want all our children to appreciate the value of designing and the importance of technology. We strive for them to have no limits to their ambitions and to aspire to become architects, graphic designers, chefs or carpenters! Through our Design & Technology curriculum, we want all our pupils to develop an appreciation of the subject, be inspired, be ambitious and confident in their ability. Using the knowledge and skills they have acquired through the Design & Technology curriculum; they should be equipped to explore their own unlimited creativity in the future.

Intent

At Stocksbridge Junior School, our teaching of Design & Technology is ambitious and our intention is to ensure that all our pupils experience a wide breadth of study and develop a long-term memory of the procedures, techniques and language used in the subject. to inspire our children to utilise the knowledge and skills gained in this subject, to the very best of their ability. Design & Technology is an inspiring, creative and practical subject. Our curriculum has been tailored to focus upon the development of practical skills and disciplinary knowledge. Where effective, links are drawn to other subjects, such as Mathematics, Science, Computing and Art & Design and History to add greater value. Our curriculum is progressively sequenced across the key stage to revisit and build upon prior learning. Through practical work, the pupils learn the discipline of the subject and apply their knowledge and skills to think and work as a designer. They are empowered to become resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. The units studied allow children to apply their technical knowledge and skills gained when creating their end product. As part of the whole process, our children are encouraged to analyse existing products then design, make and evaluate the success of their own work.

Through our curriculum we ensure that all our children leave Key Stage 2 fully prepared for the next phase in their lives. It is our commitment to ensure that all our children are accessing a broad and balanced curriculum that will meet and exceed the requirements of the National Curriculum through key concepts, clear end points and insightful assessment. We provide an ambitious curriculum for every pupil, regardless of social disadvantage and SEND. Where required, carefully designed support identifies and addresses gaps in knowledge and skills so that every child is successful.

Implementation

Our curriculum is taught through key concepts which bring coherence and make learning more effective by ensuring the ‘big ideas’ are explicitly addressed. In Design and Technology, the key concepts are:

Inspiration and Analysis
Master Practical Skills
Plan and Prototype
Make and Evaluate

Through these key concepts, pupils take inspiration from designers and technologists throughout history to generate ideas for their work. Then, pupils explore and practise the knowledge, skills and techniques involved in the unit and record their plans and designs. Before producing a product, pupils review and revisit ideas then evaluate the success of their product against their initial brief. This process is replicated for each Design and Technology unit.

Each unit is planned as a progressive sequence of lessons that build upon what has been previously taught. Children are aware of where their learning links to previous and future learning. Design and Technology is delivered as a discrete subject, however, to strengthen schema, links are utilised within Design and Technology and between other areas of the curriculum. This deliberate use of spaced repetition supports pupils to transfer key knowledge into their long-term memory and enhance their progress. Children apply their knowledge fluently to achieve the clearly defined end points.

Pupils present information clearly in a number of ways, which include the use of Design and Technology books and our online learning platform, ‘Seesaw’. Seesaw is used most effectively to record pupils’ learning in multi-media form, particularly evidence of the Master Practical Skills key concept, where pupils can record audio over photographic evidence of the skill they are mastering.

Whilst delivering the curriculum, teachers are constantly checking to ensure that pupils are learning the necessary knowledge and identifying and addressing misunderstandings. Assessment is used as a tool to support pupil learning. To support learning, essential vocabulary is assigned to each unit of work and is identified and used within each lesson. Pupils are encouraged to apply the terminology accurately to demonstrate their understanding in appropriate discussion.

Impact

At Stocksbridge Junior School, our pupils develop and extend their learning in Design & Technology throughout the whole key stage. As skills and knowledge are revisited and extended, there are many opportunities for previously learned skills to be retrieved, aiding their long-term learning of the concepts, skills and procedures taught in Design & Technology. Our pupils develop the confidence to work with a variety of tools and mediums, develop their skills and knowledge and experience for themselves what does work and what does not work.

Our well-constructed curriculum in Design and Technology leads to pupils’ successful learning. This is evidenced in the outcomes within workbooks, Seesaw and practical work produced. Pupils are well prepared for the next steps and stages of their learning due to the progressive and well sequenced curriculum. As a result, pupils make excellent progress they know more and remember more as they move through the Design and Technology curriculum at Stocksbridge Junior School and beyond.

Stocksbridge Junior School Curriculum for Design & Technology

The National Curriculum for Design and Technology

Purpose of Study

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. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they 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 well-being of the nation.

Aims

The national curriculum for design and technology aims to ensure that all pupils:

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

Subject Content: Key Stage 2

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, pupils should be taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. They should work in a range of relevant contexts [for example, the home, school, leisure, culture, enterprise, industry and the wider environment].

When designing and making, pupils should be taught to:

Design

use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups
generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design

Make

select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately
select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities

Evaluate

investigate and analyse a range of existing products
evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their
understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world

Technical Knowledge

apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures
understand and use mechanical systems in their products [for example, gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages]
understand and use electrical systems in their products [for example, series circuits incorporating switches, bulbs, buzzers and motors]
apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products.

Cooking and Nutrition

As part of their work with food, pupils should be taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Instilling a love of cooking in pupils will also open a door to one of the great expressions of human creativity. Learning how to cook is a crucial life skill that enables pupils to feed themselves and others affordably and well, now and in later life.

At Key Stage 2, pupils should be taught to:

understand and apply the principles of a healthy and varied diet
prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques
understand seasonality, and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.