DT

Intent

At Hoo St Werburgh, we are committed to providing all children with learning opportunities to engage in Design and Technology.   

Our vision for D.T. at HSW is to ignite children’s natural curiosity and to inspire them to be creative in their own ideas and designs.  At HSW, we recognise that children are living in a highly developed technological world.  Design and Technology provides the children with the opportunity to develop and use a range of skills that will prepare them for a constantly changing society, increasingly dependent on technology.  

At HSW, Design and Technology activities will enable children to use their creativity, imagination and social interaction skills to design and make their own products, understanding the process from planning to making, evaluating and refinements.  

During the teaching of Design and Technology, a wide range of new progressive skills will be acquired and the knowledge of other subjects, such as mathematics, science, engineering, IT and art will be drawn upon and applied.  Children will also develop the life skills and knowledge associated with healthy living, food nutrition and cookery.

Implementation

We aim to provide a learning environment where children of all abilities, develop their skills and knowledge; where children feel secure and creative in their risk – taking.  Problem solving is encouraged and children’s design ideas and suggestions are valued. In EYFS, daily design and technology activities are planned; the area of learning is set up by the adult with resources which are matched to children’s skill development, enhancements are added based on the children’s interest.  Children will use their skills taught by an adult to practise and rehearse skills when designing and making.  They learn how to adapt and modify their designs.   In Early Years we are working towards the HEY (Healthy Early Years) award; children in Nursery through to KS1 cook their own healthy snacks each day, learn all important life skills when preparing food.

In KS1 and KS2, children’s D.T. projects will link to their learning journeys so that children are fully immersed in the product they are creating. Children will spend time learning about designers and will take inspiration from their creating when designing their own. D.T. lessons ensure that children have time to research, design, create prototypes and make changes to improve the functionality of their product before crating, showcasing and reviewing their final product. 

We aim for children to develop an understanding of design and technology through first-hand experience.  Wherever possible, children are given opportunities to visit local museums, shops and restaurants and meet with designers, engineers, chefs, architects and students from college or secondary schools. We have knowledge organisers which are a go to document outlining essential knowledge and vocabulary that the teachers will be covering across a unit of work.  We develop long and medium-term plans, drawing on themes in the termly learning journey.  There are opportunities for children of all abilities to develop their skills and knowledge in each teaching unit, the planned progression built into the design and technology curriculum means that the children are increasingly challenged as they move through the school.

Impact

The overall impact is that children can learn from a range of existing products and find out about D&T in the wider world; develop specific technical knowledge, designing and making skills for each area (mechanisms, structures, textiles, food, mechanical and electrical stems).  As children progress through school, they will show the ability to take risks and experiment with their own work, drawing on what they have learnt in previous years.  They will learn how to critically evaluate their own and other’s work.