Intent
The aims of the Design and Technology curriculum at Our Lady of the Assumption are:
- To give our children the chance to experience and gain the knowledge of what design and technology is and its place in the world around us.
- To give children the understanding of how design and technology has changed over time and how it continues to evolve today, through opportunities to research various products.
- To ensure that all children gain the technical knowledge and expertise of mechanisms, textiles, electrical circuits and structures through exciting and innovative projects.
- To ensure that children know the importance of good nutrition and how to apply this when creating food products for a variety of purposes.
- To give children the opportunity to test and critically evaluate existing products and those that they have created to decide whether they meet the needs of the consumer.
Implementation
In Early Years, Design and Technology is promoted through direct teaching and purposeful learning opportunities across all planned themes throughout the year. We use our half termly planned themes and capitalise on unplanned moments that present themselves to encourage children to design, make and evaluate. We provide children with a purpose to design, make and evaluate products that move, are structurally sound and are healthy and safe, for example through building, cooking, sewing and making products. We also include opportunities for children to assemble and disassemble objects to learn more about how things work.
In Key Stages 1 and 2, Design and Technology is taught through termly ‘projects’ which focus on different aspects and skills. Each project follows the ‘Design > Make > Evaluate’ process, which starts with a given problem to solve or the need for a new product to overcome a challenge. This initial stage also includes the creation of a design brief/success criteria which children are able to evaluate their product against at the end of the project. Children are then given the opportunity to research existing products, taking note of the materials, mechanisms, construction and designs of these and use this information to help them create their own product. Where skills need to be taught, this is done through experimenting with different materials and creating protypes. Once the product has been made, it is then tested to see whether it meets the design brief/solves the problem. This leads to the evaluation, which can be individual as well as peer to peer.
OLA Design and Technology Long Term Plan Years 1-6:
Knowledge and Skills
Through our Design and Technology curriculum, children build knowledge linked to core threads of learning, along with development of focus Design and Technology skills.
| D&T Technical Knowledge | D&T Skills |
| Mechanisms Structures Textiles Electrical Circuits Food | Design Make Evaluate Technical Research |
Overview of D&T Technical Knowledge:
Overview of D&T Skills:
