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Design & Technology

At West Acton Primary, we believe in the value and impact of teaching Design Technology as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. We aim to provide children with opportunities to develop and extend skills to plan, design, create and evaluate design products of meaning and with an end use in mind.

High quality Design Technology education equips children with the skills to explore, experiment, create and invent their own products whilst engaging, inspiring and challenging pupils. As designers, children should be able to critically evaluate their work and the work of others, taking influence from well-known designers and adapting their work accordingly. As their skill set progresses, they should understand how design has evolved and how it shapes the world around them.

At West Acton Primary School Design and Technology is taught every half term (alternating with Art & Design) from Years 1-6 and throughout the year in the EYFS.

Intent

Intent:

The intent of the Design Technology Curriculum at West Acton Primary School is to provide a wide variety of opportunities for the children to learn, apply and strengthen essential skills required in the designing, making and evaluating of an effective product for a given purpose and to learn about nutrition and food preparation. Design Technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. It encourages children to learn to think and intervene creatively to solve problems both as individuals and as members of a team in group work.

To ensure that the children are well-equipped with useful technical knowledge to support them in the design and making of products. For example: Learning how to strengthen a structure to make it more stable, learning how to use mechanisms or electrical systems in their designs and adapt using experiences and key skills. In addition, the school aims to develop the children’s use and understanding of technical vocabulary associated with this subject. This is so that the children can articulate the skills that they have applied, the equipment that they have used and describe the materials and features of the product that they have made.

The intent of the DT Curriculum at West Acton is to provide plenty of opportunities for the children to learn, apply and strengthen essential skills required in the designing, making and evaluating of an effective product for a given purpose. DT is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. It encourages children to learn to think and intervene creatively to solve problems both as individuals and as members of a team.

It is also the intent of the DT Curriculum to ensure that the children are well-equipped with useful technical knowledge to support them in the design and making of their product. For example: Learning how to strengthen a structure to make it more stable, learning how to use mechanisms or electrical systems in their designs and learning how to use computer programming to control a product.

In addition, the school aims to develop the children’s use and understanding of technical vocabulary associated with this subject. This is so that the children can articulate the skills that they have applied, the equipment that they have used and describe the material/s and features of the product that they have made.

The aims of teaching design and technology in our school are:

Develop creative, technical and imaginative thinking in children and to develop confidence to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.

Enable children to talk about how things work and to develop their technical knowledge,

Apply a growing body of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make prototypes and products for a wide range of users,

Encourage children to select appropriate tools and techniques when making a product, whilst following safe procedures,

Develop an understanding of technological processes and products, their manufacture and their contribution to our society,

Foster enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making things,

Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products, and the work of others,

Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and to learn how to cook,

Understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world.

At West Acton Primary we build Cultural Capital by providing students with a means to engage with and understand the world around them and their relationship with it. Embedded in our curriculum is the exploration of the work of designers from a vast spectrum of backgrounds, genders, ethnicities and beliefs. Children learn about key figures and design work and become increasingly more familiar with those who have successfully developed creative, technical and practical expertise within design ranging from Antoni Gaudi to Ann Albers to Frank Gehry.

They will also get to experience visits to at least one local and one national gallery and museum and parents will be invited to view their child’s work through the schools own gallery.

We learn about how the world and its artefacts are represented and about the ideologies running through them. Cultural awareness is developed through creating, investigating, making and doing. This journey gives our students a voice with which to express their thoughts, feelings about and responses to the world around them.

Implementation

Implementation:

We split the terms between Design Technology and Art and Design, with subjects alternating each half term. The time dedicated to DT ensures that each topic can be delivered to a high standard and children can create important and useful products. Resources are varied and allow children to be clever and creative when designing and making their products. To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in design and technology, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. DT is taught as part of a termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. We ensure that Design and Technology is given the same importance as the core subjects, as we feel this is important in enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences, exploring how familiar things work, talking, drawing and modelling are key elements of being an engineer or designer.

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, we teach the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. The children work in a range of relevant contexts (for example home, school, leisure, culture, enterprise, industry and the wider environment).

Design and Technology is taught in weekly lessons where children are taught through the three phases of designing, making and evaluating their own products. Each year group focuses on three topics throughout the year and each topic will look at a separate set of skills. As children progress through the school, they are presented with opportunities to develop these skills, as similar topics are revisited and built upon to develop key skills and knowledge.

Children develop a key set of skills and vocabulary that they build upon throughout their journey through the school, offering opportunities to revisit and refine previous learning and feedback is given by teachers as they design, shape and create their products. Opportunities to reflect and evaluate are planned at the end of each unit and children are supported in developing this ability to evaluate and implement their design knowledge and skills in cross curricular learning, such as in Art & Design, English, Computing, Science, Maths and PSED activities.

Impact

Impact:

Within Design and Technology each topic ends with all children creating a final product; these products are a fantastic way for children to demonstrate the skills they have learnt. Throughout the school, children are given the opportunity to consolidate their skills by creating their final product independently. Each lesson builds on the previous learning and children’s skills are improved upon throughout each topic and skills developed throughout their journey through the school. This enable a progression of skills throughout the school. Subject Leaders monitor the children’s learning through termly monitoring; including pupil voice surveys and lesson observations.

Cultural Capital

Cultural Capital:

At West Acton Primary we build the Cultural Capital of our students by providing students with a means to engage with and understand the world around them - and their relationship with it. We learn about how the world and its products are represented and about the ideologies running through them. Cultural awareness is developed through creating, investigating, making and doing. This journey gives our students a voice with which to express their thoughts, feelings about and responses to the world around them as well as key skills that will equip them for their next steps in learning.

At West Acton Primary it is essential that children are able to experience high quality Design and Technology experiences and they can answer some fundamental questions about these experiences. A sense of awe and wonder is developed through discovery of the processes this creates. Children learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable designers. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology products, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. It raises many social and moral questions. Through teaching, children have the opportunity to discuss choices we make and the effect they have on the world around us. It gives the children the opportunity to reflect on design work and creative work. It teaches children about the reasons why people are different and, by developing the children’s knowledge and understanding of the opportunities that this brings, it promotes respect for other people, cultures and aesthetics.

At West Acton Primary we aim to build Cultural Capital; children learn about key figures in design and become increasingly more familiar with those who have successfully developed creative, technical and practical expertise within the field.

Children will visit local buildings of significance as part of their Art & Design and Design and Technology learning, and opportunities to participate in local and national competitions and events will be promoted to the children throughout the year.

Home Learning

Home Learning:

Home Learning in Design and Technology is encouraged through providing parents/carers and children with a wide variety of activities to develop their skills. As well as recommended Year Group Design and Technology activities on the school’s remote learning platform, information is shared on the website and in newsletters and children all have access to a variety of interactive art and design games and learning through Espresso, Purple Mash (Mini Mash) and BBC Bitesize which can be used at home, in conjunction with planning from their Year Group.

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