DESIGN AND TECHNOLGY SUBJECT LEADER PLANNING STATEMENT

Intent, Implementation and Impact

At Rickmansworth Park School, we recognise the importance of Articles 29 and 31 and their relevance to the Design and Technology Curriculum we provide.

Article 29 states:

Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for…their own and other cultures and the environment.

Article 30 states:

Every child has the right to relax and play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

“Design is intelligence made visible.” – Alina Wheeler

Intent

At Rickmansworth Park JMI School we intend to build a Design Technology curriculum which is inspiring, rigorous, and practical.  We want our 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, wants and values. We intend for all children to acquire appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum.  It is our aim to, wherever possible, create strong cross curricular links with other subjects, such as Mathematics, Science, Computing, and Art.  We want Design and Technology to prepare our children, to give them the opportunities, responsibilities, and experiences they need to be successful in later life. We believe that high-quality DT lessons will inspire children to think independently, innovatively and develop creative, procedural and technical understanding.  The children will have opportunities to research products, represent their ideas and designs, explore and investigate ideas, develop their ideas, make products and evaluate their work.  They will be given time to reflect upon and evaluate past and present design technology, to encourage them to become innovators, risk-takers and to become independent learners as they progress through the school.

Implementation

Design and Technology is a crucial part of school life and learning and it is for this reason that as a school we are dedicated to the teaching and delivery of a high-quality Design and Technology curriculum. The curriculum is broad and balanced and all children design, make and evaluate products that reflect their own individual interests. The progression of skills, knowledge, understanding and technical vocabulary for DT have been mapped out across the school to ensure that there is clear progression from EYFS through to Year 6. The curriculum is enriched with hands on opportunities, visits and visitors to the school.

The Design and Technology curriculum is implemented through:

• A well thought out, whole school, yearly overview of the DT curriculum which allows for progression across year groups in all areas of DT (Structures, Mechanism, Textiles, Electrical Systems and Food and Nutrition).
• Well planned and resourced units of work, providing children with a hands-on and enriching experience.
• A range of skills being taught ensuring that children are aware of health and safety issues related to the tasks undertaken.
• Teachers being given ownership and flexibility to plan for Design and Technology; often teaching DT as a block of lessons to allow the time needed for the children to be critical, inventive and reflective on their work.
• Each unit of work addressing the principles of designing, making and evaluating and incorporating relevant technical knowledge and understanding in relevant contexts.
• Children being introduced to specific designers, chefs, nutritionists, etc. helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement and increase the cultural capital from which they can draw in the future.

Early Years Foundation Stage

During the EYFS pupils explore and use a variety of media and materials through a combination of child initiated and adult directed activities. The children have the opportunities to learn to:

• Use different media and materials to express their own ideas.
• Use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about form, function and purpose.
•  Make plans and construct with a purpose in mind using a variety of resources.
•  Develop skills to use simple tools and techniques appropriately, effectively and safely.
•  Select appropriate resources for a product and adapt their work where necessary.
•  Prepare and cook food adhering to good health and hygiene routines.

Impact

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 children will develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world. They will gain a firm foundation of knowledge and skills to see them equipped to take on further learning. The children will ultimately know more, remember more and understand more about Design and Technology, demonstrating this knowledge when using tools or skills in other areas of the curriculum and in opportunities out of school.

Through Design and Technology the children will have had experience of:

• Following the design, make and evaluate process to meet a goal.
• Solving real life practical problems using innovation and creativity, both as an individual and part of a group.
• Choosing from and using a growing range of tools and materials.
• Using and understanding a richer technical vocabulary associated with Design and Technology.
• Preparing a range of healthy, varies and nutritious dishes.

The children’s knowledge, understanding and skills are assessed through formal assessment, book scrutiny and marking of children‘s work, which is used alongside more informal child interviews and photographic evidence. Careful questioning and planning for child led discussions are some of the other methods used for measuring the impact of Design and Technology throughout the school.

What makes our Design & Technology curriculum exceptional?

1. It is underpinned by aims, values & purpose.

Article 29 UN Convention of Rights of the Child: Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.

Our school principles are:

*To provide an education which develops the whole child.

*To provide a broad and balanced curriculum with a strong focus on enrichment opportunities.

*To teach children to understand their own rights and to respect the rights of others. 

2. It develops the whole person – knowledge, skills, understanding & attitudes.

Design and Technology develops the whole person as the children have the opportunity to design, make and evaluate a product that is meaningful and purposeful to them.  The children develop/widen their technical knowledge, understanding skills and vocabulary when working with structures, mechanism, textiles, electrical systems and food and nutrition.

3. It is broad and balanced.

The Design and Technology curriculum is broad and balance throughout the school and all children have the opportunity to be creative and make a product that reflects their interest.

Design and Technology allows for the children to design, make and evaluate their own product and to widen their technical knowledge, understanding, skills when working with structures, mechanism, textiles, electrical systems and food and nutrition.

The teachers have a clear outline of the progression in skills and vocabulary taught across the school and they are able to resource their topics, allowing for the skills to be taught and developed.

Wherever possible the curriculum is also enriched with hands on opportunities, visits and visitors to the school.

4. There is clear progression in subject knowledge and skills.

Throughout the school there is a clear progression in knowledge, understanding, skills and vocabulary. This is shown in the ‘Progression of Skills Document’, Progression in Vocabulary Document’ and the ‘Curriculum Journey Maps’ from EYFS to Year 6.

5. It is filled with rich first-hand experiences.

Wherever possible the Design and Technology curriculum is enriched with hands on opportunities, visits and visitors to the school.

As a whole school we take part in a yearly school trip to ‘The Chiltern Open Air Museum’. Throughout the day the children have many opportunities to design, make and evaluate products linked to the individual class theme.

During our ‘Excellence and Enjoyment’ we have a visit from KNEX where the children have lots of fun building making their own models and they also have a go at following a set of instructions to make particular product.

6. It is flexible and responsive to individual needs and interests.

Design and Technology allows for the children to make a product that is of interest to them. The skills are taught and developed in each year group and the children have the opportunity to design, make and evaluate their own individualised product.

The children have the opportunities to work alone, with a partner or in a group. They are supported when by the Class Teacher, Teaching Assistant or Parent Helper.

7. It has an eye on the future and the needs of future citizens.

All areas of Design and Technology will help our future citizens. Having an understanding and some technical knowledge on structures, mechanism, textiles, electrical systems and food and nutrition will help all children in not only their future lives but in their lives now.

8. It encourages the use of environments and expertise beyond the classroom.

Throughout the school year many classes have the opportunity to experience Design and Technology outside of their classroom environment. We work hard to ensure that the curriculum is enriched with hands on opportunities, visits and visitors to the school.

Our whole school trip to ‘The Chiltern Open Air Museum’ allows the children to use a range of natural resources and to design and make their products in and outdoor environment.

9. It makes meaningful links between areas of knowledge across the curriculum.

There are many cross curriculum links for Design and Technology. This allows for the children to have a real understanding about a product that they will be designing and making. For example, the children in Year 4 make Ancient Egyptian Collars in textiles which links to their History topic. In Year 3 they make vegetable soup and oatcakes in food and nutrition which links to their history topic of the Iron Age.

There are also many cross curricular links to History, Geography, Science, RE, Literacy, Maths and Computing

10. It has a local, national and global dimension.

The Design and Technology Curriculum does show a Local, National and Global Dimension.

In Key stage 2 the children spend time researching and looking at design ideas which have been put together all around the world.

Our whole school trip allows for many opportunities of ‘hands on experiences’.

Food and Nutrition allows for the children to make and taste different foods. In Early Years the children enjoy tasting different food linked to the different religious festivals such as:

*Coconut Ice for Diwali

*Sweet Treats for Hanukah

*Pancakes for Shrove’s Tuesday

*Stir Fry Vegetables and Noodles for Chinese New Year

11. It is supported by high quality Subject Leader CPD.

As the Subject Leader I have great passion and enthusiasm for Design and Technology. I have worked hard to ensure that the curriculum is broad and balanced throughout the school, showing a clear progression in skills and vocabulary from EYFS to Year 6.  I have shared my passion for the subject with the class teachers and we have discussed the progression of skills for their year group. Together we have shared ideas of how these can be taught to ensure that the ‘End of Key Stage Expectations’ will be met. Wherever possible the curriculum is enriched with hands on opportunities, visits and visitors to the school. I have made sure that there are cross curricular links throughout Design and Technology and that there are links made to the ‘UN Convention on the Rights of the Child’ and that the curriculum is supported by high quality ‘Continuing Professional Development’.

12. SMSC is embedded within the curriculum.

 (See SMSC Subject Statement)

Social, Moral, Spiritual, Cultural Links – D.T.

Spiritual

D.T supports spiritual development by allowing pupils the opportunity to exercise imagination, inspiration, intuition and insight through creativity and risk taking in analysing, designing and manufacturing a range of products. It instils a sense of awe, wonder and mystery when studying the natural world or human achievement. Encouraging creativity allows pupils to express innermost thoughts and feelings and to reflect and learn from reflection, for example, asking ‘why?’, ‘how?’ and ‘where?’.

Moral

D.T supports moral development by raising awareness of the moral dilemmas by encouraging pupils to value the environment and its natural resources and to consider the environmental impact of everyday products. It educates pupils to become responsible consumers.

Social

D.T Supports social development by providing opportunities to work as a team, recognising others’ strengths and sharing equipment. Design Technology promotes equality of opportunity and provides an awareness of areas that have gender issues e.g. encouraging girls to use equipment that has been traditionally male dominated.

Cultural

D.T supports cultural development by encouraging children to reflect on ingenious products and inventions, the diversity of materials and ways in which design technology can improve the quality of life. It investigates how different cultures have contributed to technology and reflects on products and inventions, the diversity of materials and ways in which design can improve the quality of our lives.