Our Design and Technology curriculum at Lakeside Primary School intends to develop children’s academic and practical skills by encouraging them to solve problems based on initial exploration of designers and their products, leading to solving problems based on real life contexts. Design and Technology gives all children the opportunity to reflect on what they have learned through their practical exploration and then to use this knowledge to design and make their own product. It aims to encourage children to take risks, to develop new innovative designs and to be reflective learners by giving them opportunities to evaluate their own work. Children are given time to test their own products and make adjustments which enable them to change their designs and improve their end product.
Our Design and Technology curriculum is designed by identifying the key skills, knowledge and understanding required by the National Curriculum, which is then planned to ensure that the skills are taught sequentially across the key stages and that new skills build on and develop the skills taught in previous year groups. The children are given opportunities to evaluate their own designs and products based on a clear set of criteria. Design and Technology is a practical subject in which children play with and explore a wide range products and designs. They use knowledge from this exploration to create their own designs and they then use a wide range of materials and tools to build their own products. Each of the topics are designed to be relevant, motivating and engaging for the children and inclusive of all groups of children and individuals across the school. Opportunities for evaluation throughout the topic enables children to look deeper into their learning and reflect on what they have designed and made and whether it has successfully met their own design criteria.
Our Design and Technology curriculum enables and encourages our children to become critical thinkers. They look at existing designs to analyse and assess its effectiveness and then they consider ways of redesigning and reconstructing it to improve its overall success. Through DT our children learn to take risks, become resourceful, innovative and enterprising individuals. Children learn to be passionate and excited by the designing and making of products including working with, preparing and tasting food. Learning is assessed through the analysis of the pupil’s ability to evaluate, design, make and improve their own work.
Subject Specific Knowledge Organisers are used as a reference point for children, staff and parents enabling all to be clear with the key vocabulary for each area of the curriculum.
