Intent

Design & Technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Designing and making usable products gives pupils a real sense of achievement. They benefit from experiencing their own progress and taking responsibility for their own learning. They enjoy the practical application of their ideas. Plus, their personal engagement with the task improves attention span, patience, persistence and commitment.

Implementation

Through our teaching of Design and Technology we aim to:

• Provide opportunities for pupils to express their thoughts, opinions and ideas.
• Develop and value the imagination of the individual.
• Develop the individual’s ability to explore, observe and question the world around them.
• To be open and collaborative team players who can work together to solve real problems and are able to take on challenges that develop their independent skills.
• Encourage the exploration and development of skills to enable ideas to be realised.
• Experience a sense of pride and achievement in the piece they have created.
• Encourage pupils to appreciate the work and impact of others.
• Value their own work, and that of others, through the use of effective and stimulating display and evaluation.
• Develop gross and fine motor skills through the safe handling of a range of tools and materials.
• Provide opportunities for pupils to make choices from a range of materials and tools. ·
• Provide opportunities to explore and evaluate existing products.
• To encourage students to design and make products that solve real and appropriate problems within a variety of contexts.

Implementation

Employing- design, make, evaluate, technical knowledge, cooking & nutrition.

Cooking and nutritional awareness is built within the curriculum, allowing children to develop their understanding of healthy lifestyles and balanced diets. Cooking is seen as a fundamental life skill and the children have a wide range of opportunities to develop their independence in this aspect.

Multisensory and Engagement

For our non subject specific learners, functional elements of D&T are taught through a topic based approach. This multi-sensory approach has the opportunity for ‘making’ tasks using bright colours, different textures, weights and types of materials, including using a range of different construction kits. There is an emphasis on the combined use of the senses. Amongst other things, pupils are taught how to: correctly use appropriate tools,  handle and explore various materials, join different materials together in a range of ways, tolerate support and the tactile elements of DT and take pride in their work.

Progression

D&T is taught through discrete lessons within a topic area, ensuring that a range of different skills are delivered and built upon as pupils move throughout the school. Pupils will be taught how to use and utilise a range of materials including clay, recycled materials, construction materials and how to combine these using a variety of fixings- permanent and moveable. There is an emphasis placed on the design process, scaffolding the pupils so that they are able to make considered choices for their projects and challenging them to adapt their designs if necessary to better fit the criteria. They are also encouraged to research ideas by looking at the work of other designers. Achievement in D&T is collected against the Key Skills Assessment document.