Design and Technology


Teaching of Design and Technology at Glenthorne Community Primary School

Intent

Our intention for design and technology, at Glenthorne, is to prepare children for the world they live in and the advances that are going to happen in the future. Design and technology allows children the opportunity to problem solve and become critical thinkers; both individually and as a team. It gives children the opportunity to identify gaps or problems with products, develop new ideas and create their own products. At Glenthorne, we want children to be prepared to enter the ever-changing world around them with the skills we encourage:


  • Independence
  • Problem-solving
  • Resilience
  • Critical thinking
  • Collaboration 
  • Being reflective


Impact

By following the Kapow Primary Scheme of Work, we expect 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 repertoire of skills, knowledge and understanding to produce high quality, innovative outcomes, including models, prototypes, CAD, and products to fulfil the needs of users, clients, and scenarios.
  • Understand and apply the principles of healthy eating, diets, and recipes, including key processes, food groups and cooking equipment.
  • Have an appreciation for key individuals, inventions, and events in history and of today that impact our world.
  • Recognise where our decisions can impact the wider world in terms of community, social and environmental issues.
  • Self-evaluate and reflect on learning at different stages and identify areas to improve.
  • Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Design and technology.


Implementation

We have implemented ‘Skills Days’, at Glenthorne, which allows children to be immersed in design and technology and work on projects/products with purpose. Teachers plan design and technology into their curriculum through ‘Skills Days’ and any other cross-curricular opportunities during topic lessons. Glenthorne also provides opportunities for design and technology through projects set as homework tasks.

For example, Years 5 & 6 design and make ‘eggmobiles’ and then compete to test their stability and mechanisms used. 


Through Kapow Primary’s Design and technology scheme, pupils respond to design briefs and scenarios that require consideration of the needs of others, developing their skills in six key areas:

● Mechanisms

● Structures

● Textiles

● Food

● Electrical systems (KS2) and Digital world (KS2) 


Each of the key areas 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.

The Kapow Primary scheme is a spiral curriculum, with key areas revisited again and again with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revisit and build on their previous learning.


Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including practical hands-on, computer-based and inventive tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary. 

Click on the icon for the Design and Technology Long Term Overview

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