Design and Technology

Design and Technology at Wybourn Community Primary School

At Wybourn Community Primary School we teach Design and Technology through Cornerstones Curriuclum.

Intent

At Wybourn Primary School, we believe Design and Technology allows children to use their creativity and imagination to design and make a variety of products that allow us to solve relevant problems within a variety of contexts. Throughout Design and Technology lessons, each project allows children to take risks, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. It is our aim to create strong cross curricular links with other subjects, including maths, history, science and computing. We aim to provide our children with the opportunity to use their imagination and research to design and make relevant products, to provide motivation and meaning to their learning.  We recognise the important role of DT in preparing our children with skills for life which will enable them to be creative individuals, keen learners, strong leaders and active citizens.  

Implementation

At Wybourn Primary Design Technology is a fundamental part of teaching and learning and is taught from EYFS to Year 6. Throughout school, we follow the Cornerstones scheme of work. The Design and Technology projects are well sequenced to provide a coherent subject that develops children’s designing, planning, making and evaluating skills. Each project is based around a design and technology subject focus of structures, mechanisms, cooking and nutrition or textiles. The design and technology curriculum’s electronic systems and IT monitoring and control elements are explicitly taught in our science projects to ensure the links between the subjects are highlighted. Due to each year group exploring the same subject focus but in a different context, we are able to develop and build upon the design and technology skills throughout their journey from nursery to year 6.

 All the projects follow a structure where children are introduced to key concepts and build up knowledge and skills over time, using a more comprehensive range of equipment and building, cutting, joining, finishing and cooking techniques as they progress through school. All projects contain focused, practical tasks in the Develop stage to help children gain the knowledge and skills needed to complete their innovate tasks independently. Throughout key stages 1 and 2, children build up their knowledge and understanding of their iterative design process. They design, make, test and evaluate their products to match specific design criteria and ensure they fit their purpose.  Throughout the projects, children are taught to work hygienically and safely.

Impact

Our vision is for children to have a love of Design Technology and develop their creative, design and making skills.

• Children will have a clear enjoyment and confidence in Design and Technology that they will then apply to other areas of the curriculum.
• Children will 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.
• As designers children will develop skills and attributes they can use beyond school and into adulthood.

What we teach in Design and Technology