1. It is underpinned by aims, values & purpose

e.g. 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.

Rickmansworth Park guiding 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.

*Many different materials are used throughout the different topic themes.

*D & T is regularly timetabled into the curriculum.

*It helps to develop physical motor control and learning skills for life.

3. It is broad and balanced.

*D & T covers mechanisms, structures, textiles, electrical components, computing (crumbl) and cooking and nutrition.

*D & T is often shown and talk about in class assemblies and shown on classroom displays.

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

*See Design and Technology progression of skills document.

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

*D & T topics allow for the children to design, make, and evaluate their work and to develop technical knowledge.

*Our whole school trip to COAM supported our D & T curriculum.

*Yearly visits from KNEX

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

*The children have the opportunities to work alone or in a group. They are supported when necessary and the learning objectives are often achieved by outcome.

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

*Mrs Smithson teaches Crumbl (computing) and we teach life skills and health and nutrition.

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

*Our whole school COAM visit allowed the children to design, make and evaluate using a range of natural resources.

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

*D & T has curriculum links to Art, Geography and Science.

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

*COAM trip

*Desert Hats (YR4)

*Cooking and Nutrition

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

*Local Subject Leader clusters

*In house training & Subject Leader development.

12. SMSC is embedded within the curriculum.

(See SMSC Subject Statement)

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.