Design and technology
Design and technology - our intent
At Checkendon Primary School, we are dedicated to providing our students with a comprehensive and ambitious art curriculum that is rich in knowledge. Our art curriculum is designed to offer a wealth of information on artists, architects, and designers, including the artistic concepts that relate to their work, across various art forms and styles. Our aim is to provide meaningful opportunities for our students to express themselves creatively, and to learn and understand their unique artistic identity. We want all our students to focus on the different concepts of art elements such as line, visual texture, tone, form, shape, and colour. They will learn how an artist uses these different elements to produce art in different styles, such as realistic or abstract. We strive to master the foundational concepts first, which is why we introduce students to different art concepts as early as reception class. Opportunities to explore different media used to make art, such as sculpture, architecture, and painting, are woven throughout our art curriculum.
Design and technology - our implementation
EYFS
Our DT curriculum begins as soon as our pupils enter school. The skills taught across EYFS feed into our DT curriculum and align with the national curriculum. The most relevant statements for DT in the EYFS framework are taken from the following areas of learning: Physical Development and Expressive Arts and Design.
KS1 and KS2
Design and technology is timetabled in school through our topics and planned DT days. Tools and other resources are available in school to allow staff to effectively implement the DT units of work: Up, up and away and Wild and Wonderful. Teachers plan for pupils to have opportunities to take part in enterprise projects where they can use and apply their skills and link to these to real life business situations.
The Design and Technology national curriculum outline 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. Cooking and nutrition has a separate section, with a focus on specific principles, skills and techniques in food, including where food comes from, diet and seasonality.
Our Design and Technology curriculum has a clear progression of skills and knowledge across each year group and key vocabulary has been identified. Through our Design and Technology units, pupils consider the needs of others, developing their skills in six key areas: Mechanisms, Structures, Textiles, Cooking and nutrition (Food), Electrical systems (KS2) and Digital world (KS2).
Our lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including practical hands-on, computer-based and inventive tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles. Knowledge organisers support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging the recall of key facts and vocabulary.
Strong subject knowledge is vital for staff to be able to deliver a highly effective and robust Design and Technology curriculum. Teachers access ongoing CPD and every effort is made to ensure that our teachers feel supported to deliver lessons of a high standard that ensure pupil progression.
Design and technology - our impact
The impact of our curriculum is monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Teachers assess pupils against the knowledge objectives and use this to inform their planning. Teachers plan pre and post assessments at the start and end of each unit. Design and Technology is monitored throughout the year through: drop ins, pupil voice and the pupils’ work. After the implementation of our Design and technology, pupils leave school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and be innovative and resourceful members of society.
