DT (Design Technology)
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Steve Jobs, American entrepreneur, industrial designer, business magnate, media proprietor, and investor
Intent
At Peel Common Junior School, we aim to provide children with a DT education that is relevant in our rapidly changing world. We want to encourage our children to become problem solvers who can work creatively on a shared project or individually. We believe that high-quality DT lessons will inspire children to think independently, innovatively and develop creative, procedural and technical understanding. Through our curriculum, we encourage children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. We aim to, wherever possible, link work to other disciplines such as mathematics, science, history, computing and art. Children will be exposed to a wide range of media including textiles, food and woodwork; through this, children will develop their skills, vocabulary and resilience.
Implementation
We have a clear and comprehensive scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum that has been mapped across the school to ensure progression between year groups. Whilst the National Curriculum forms the foundation of our curriculum, we make sure that children learn additional skills, knowledge and understanding and enhance our curriculum as and when necessary. Children have access to key knowledge, language and meanings to understand Design Technology and to use these skills across the curriculum. In Design Technology, children are asked to solve problems and develop their learning independently. This allows the children to have more ownership over their curriculum and lead their own learning in Design Technology. English, Maths and ICT skills are taught during discrete lessons but are revisited in Design Technology so children can apply and embed the skills they have learnt in a purposeful context.
Impact
We ensure the children:
• 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 and critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
• understand and apply the principles of nutrition and begin to learn how to cook.
Children will design and make a range of products. A good quality finish will be expected in all design and activities made appropriate to the age and ability of the child. Children 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. As designers, children will develop skills and attributes they can use beyond school and into adulthood.
DT - Curriculum Maps and Progression Document
Learning in Action!
“Designers may be the true intellectuals of the future.” - Paola Antonelli, Italian author, editor, architect, and curator