Design and Technology
The World is ours to Explore
Intent
At Church Aston Infant School, we provide a Design and Technology curriculum which is inspiring, rigorous, and practical. We want the children to use 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. Children will gain appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding and we create strong cross curricular links with other subjects, such as Mathematics, Science, Computing, and Art. We want children to see how Design and Technology is used in the world, from chefs cooking delicious dishes in restaurants to engineers designing and building safe bridges and begin to understand how they might use Design and Technology in their future lives.
Implementation
At Church Aston Infant School teaching of Design and Technology follows the design, make and evaluate cycle. The design process should be rooted in real life, relevant contexts to give meaning to learning. While making, children should be given choice and a range of tools to choose freely from. To evaluate, children should be able to evaluate their own products against a design criteria. Children will be introduced to technical knowledge and vocabulary. The Design and Technology curriculum is progressive so allows the children to build on skills, knowledge and techniques year on year.
Reception children will be provided with opportunities to build and construct using a range of materials/objects whilst being introduced to, and building on, relevant language related to this.
Our Subject Leader and teachers work closely to ensure that teaching is progressive and provides opportunities for children to work with well-designed sequences of lessons that build knowledge, skills and ideas over time. Children are assessed on their Design and Technology knowledge through questioning and discussion to enable teachers to ascertain the next steps for them and to gain an understanding of the progress and expectations that they have met. Our children have opportunity to express what they have been learning about in Design and Technology on a regular basis and this is encouraged throughout the school day. Children in Reception are assessed at the end of the year in Expressive Arts and Design to identify if they are at expected or emerging and this is shared with Year 1 teacher/s. Year 1 and Year 2 children are assessed to evaluate if they are working towards or at age related expectations. Outcomes are shared with parents.
Impact
By the time they leave Church Aston Infant School, children will have clear enjoyment and confidence in Design and Technology that they will then apply to other areas of the curriculum. Through carefully planned and implemented learning activities the pupils develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world. Children will be able to relate their learning in their Design and Technology lessons to ‘real world’ situations.