Buckingham Park Primary School

Intent: Why do we teach Design and Technology?

Our intention is that our children leave Buckingham Park Primary School fully confident in their Design and Technology skills.

Aims

• To develop imaginative thinking in children and to enable them to talk about what they like and dislike when designing and making
• To enable children to talk about how things work, and to draw and model their ideas
• To encourage children to select appropriate tools and techniques for making a product, whilst following safe procedures
• To explore attitudes towards the ‘made world’ and how we live and work within it
• To develop an understanding of technological processes, products, and their manufacture, and their contribution to our society
• To foster enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making.

Implementation: What do we teach in Design and Technology?

At Buckingham Park Primary School through the study of design and technology children combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues. This allows them to reflect on and evaluate present and past design and technology, its uses and its impacts.

Design and technology helps all children to become discriminating and informed consumers and potential innovators.                

We have used the best research to create a well sequenced and progressive curriculum map, containing the key concepts children need to be procedurally fluent in, to work and think like professional design technologists. We follow the ‘Design, Make, Evaluate’ approach to the teaching of DT, as outlined in the National Curriculum Programmes of Study document. We link all of our DT projects to our whole school creative curriculum and use the 'Projects on a Page' scheme to inform our planning and the vocabularly we introduce. Our long-term plan is carefully mapped out to ensure coverage and progression of skills so that by the time children leave us they will have experienced at least 18 different projects (3 per year).

The key concepts in DT we plan a progression for are as follows:

• Developing, planning and communicating ideas
• Working with tools, equipment, materials and components to make quality products
• Evaluating processes and products
• Mechanisms
• Construction and use of materials
• Textiles
• Food (cooking and nutrition)  

At Buckingham Park Primary School children learn to produce practical solutions to real problems. Children develop technical understanding and making skills, learn about design methods and investigate their environment and the materials around them.

At Buckingham Park Primary School we use a variety of teaching and learning styles in Design and Technology lessons. The principal aim is to develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in design and technology, and teachers encourage children to use their knowledge and understanding when developing ideas, planning and making products and evaluating them.

At Buckingham Park Primary School we use a balance of whole class teaching and individual or group activities, giving children opportunity to both work on their own and to collaborate with others.

At Buckingham Park Primary School children are encouraged to listen to the ideas of others, and treat them with respect, to critically evaluate existing products, both their own work and those of others. They have the opportunity to use a wide range of materials and resources, including Computing.

Impact: What will this look like?

By the time children leave Buckingham Park primary School they will:

• Generate ideas through discussion and experimentation
• Extend knowledge and understanding of a wide range of materials, including construction kits, textiles, food, wood, plastic, metals and reclaimed/junk materials
• Work within groups and as individuals
• Make use of drawings and models to communicate their ideas
• Evaluate their work and identify strengths and weaknesses in a positive way
• Experiment with simple components, mechanisms and structures
• Learn about health and safety aspects when working with a variety of materials and tools
• Consider risk to themselves and to others and build up a knowledge and understanding of the dangers inherent in certain products and tools

This will help raise their aspirations by developing their skills as young engineers and improving their understanding and application of Design and Technology, Science and Maths. With an increased understanding of the role of an engineer they will know how it can have a significant impact on improving lives. We want our children to have a secure understanding of the possible types of jobs they can do in the future, and to encourage and promote STEAM industry jobs.