Design & Technology at St Johns
Design Technology Curriculum Intent
At St John's, our intention for the Design Technology curriculum is to:
- Develop key skills in each year group through units of work that have key threads which are repeated in different contexts. These key threads are: strength, function, structure, pneumatics, textiles, rotary motion, product design, levers, healthy eating and food preparation.
- Secure children’s knowledge in design and technology in order that they develop the confidence to apply their skills as a designer to invent innovative products taking inspiration from research and existing technology.
- Encourage children to link their designs to relevant real-life contexts applying their scientific and mathematical skills and knowledge.
- Encourage children to take ownership of their learning by choosing appropriate resources and tools during the designing process and by questioning and evaluating their decisions.
- Inspire children to challenge and develop their designs by encouraging problem solving and resilience during the design and making process.
Design Technology Implementation
- Please open the link below to see our long-term curriculum plan for DT.
- Please open the link below to see the progression of skills across this subject.
- We use unit plans to develop the knowledge and key threads, resulting in an end of unit challenge for all pupils. Wherever possible, teachers will plan units of work that will support learning in other areas of the curriculum.
- DT is taught each term in every class through five key areas: structures, textiles, foods, mechanisms and electricity.
- We assess pupil progress through an end of unit challenge based on the key skills of the DT curriculum being taught. This challenge will include using all the skills taught across the unit. This is then assessed using the unit plan and reported to parents at the end of the year as Expected level or Not Expected level.
- School trips can be used to reinforce work on specific DT projects, inventors or historical concepts that support developments in technology.
Design Technology Impact
- Pupil work is evidenced in curriculum books.
- Individual pieces of DT are completed for all children.
- Classroom displays reflect best practise and development of key skills.