Design and Technology

Design and Technology at St Mary's

'Design and Technology should be the subject where mathematical brainboxes and science whizzkids turn their bright ideas into useful products and solutions.'

James Dyson

Intent:

At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, we use Kapow's Design and Technology curriculum to inspire pupils to be innovative and creative thinkers who have an appreciation for the product design cycle through ideation, creation and evaluation. We want our pupils to develop the confidence to take risks through drafting design concepts, modelling and testing and to be reflective learners who evaluate their work and the work of others. Through the Kapow scheme, we aim to build an awareness of the impact of design and technology on our lives and encourage pupils to become resourceful, enterprising citizens who will have the skills to contribute to future design advancements.

Implementation:

Design and Technology is a huge focus at St Mary's and children are able to express themselves in a creative way. Children follow Kapow which has four major strands running through:

Design
Make
Evaluate
Technical knowledge

Units of lessons are sequential, allowing children to build their skills and knowledge, applying them to a range of outcomes. Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including practical hands-on, computer-based and inventive tasks. 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. Kapow is a spiral curriculum and key areas are revisited again and again with increasing complexity building our children's knowledge in depth.

Impact:

The expected impact of following the Kapow Design and Technology scheme is 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.
Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Computing.

How is Design and Technology taught at St Mary's?

Following Kapow's Design and Technology scheme, each class follows lessons that are sequential, allowing children to build their skills and knowledge, applying them to a range of outcomes! DT is celebrated in every class at St Mary's, encouraging children's thirst for new experiences and developing skills of enquiry! Each child from Year 1, all the way up to Year 6 has their own sketchbook meaning that all children are involved in the evaluation, dialogue and decision making about their outcomes and the improvements they need to make.