Intent

The national curriculum for design and technology aims to ensure that all pupils:

• develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
• build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users
• critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
• understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.

Grayswood CofE Primary School deliver a design and technology curriculum which aims to inspire our children to be innovative and creative thinkers who have an appreciation for the product design cycle: ideation, creation and evaluation in order to make purposeful products.

Children's interests are captured through project design briefs, giving them purpose, motivation and meaning for their learning. By providing a supportive and nurturing environment, we want our children to develop the confidence to take risks and achieve their personal best, through drafting design concepts, modelling, and testing and to be reflective learners who can evaluate their work and that of others respectfully. Furthermore, we aim to build an awareness of the impact of design and technology on our lives and encourage children to become resourceful, enterprising citizens who will have the skills to contribute to the design of the future.

The children of Grayswood will have the tools to meet the end of key stage attainment targets in the National curriculum and the aims align with those in the National curriculum.

Implementation

The Grayswood curriculum is shaped by our school vision which aims to enable all children to flourish and develop a lifelong passion for learning. By following Kapow Primary’s scheme of work for Design and Technology, we are able to meet our vision and aims.

The scheme of work is supported by clear skills and knowledge progression. DT is taught in alternate half-terms to Art and is a spiral curriculum, with key areas revisited with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to build on their previous learning.

This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year on year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children.

The units taught cover each of the National Curriculum attainment targets under five subheadings or strands:

• Design
• Make
• Evaluate
• Technical knowledge
• Cooking and nutrition

Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including practical hand-on inventive tasks, thus ensuring lessons are engaging and appeal to a variety of learning styles. Each unit follows the design process (design, make and evaluate) and has a particular theme and focus from the technical knowledge or cooking and nutrition section of the curriculum. To successfully implement the cooking and nutrition stand of the National Curriculum, the children of Grayswood have access to a fully equipped food and preparation room. Teachers have access to differentiated guidance to ensure that lessons can be accessed by all pupils.

Strong subject knowledge is vital for our staff to be able to deliver highly effective and robust curriculum and as members of Kapow, our teachers have access to training videos to develop their subject knowledge and ongoing CPD to enable them to deliver lessons of a high calibre and ensure pupil progression.

Impact

Children should leave Grayswood equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and be innovative and resourceful members of the community.

The impact of following Kapow Primary Design and Technology scheme of work means that children will:

• Understand the functional and aesthetic properties of a range of materials and resources.
• Understand how to use and combine tools to carry out different processes for shaping, decorating and manufacturing products
• Build and apply a wide range of skills, knowledge and understanding to produce innovative outcomes, including models, prototypes and products to fulfil the needs of user and/or scenario
• Understand and apply the principles of healthy eating, diets and recipes including food groups and cooking equipment
• Have an appreciation for key individuals, inventions and events in history and of today that impact our world
• Self-evaluate and reflect on learning and identify and suggest areas to improve
• Meet the end of key stage expectations outlines in the National Curriculum for Design and Technology

Assessment will be completed through the use of a unit quiz and a knowledge catcher which will be used at the start and/or end of the unit.

Enrichment in DT

In addition to the curriculum, we offer the following enrichment opportunities in DT for children at Grayswood CE Primary School:

• Community Arts Project: Haslemere Scarecrow Competition
• After school cookery club
• Eco crafts club