Welcome to our page about the DT curriculum.

The intention of our design and technology curriculum is:

· To develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to

participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.

· To support children to build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and

make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users.

· To enable children to critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others and understand

and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.

· To provide a variety of contexts for children to solve real and relevant problems, considering their own and

others’ needs, wants and values.

· To encourage children to take risks, become resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens.

· For children to acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science,

engineering, computing and art.

· For children to develop a critical understanding of the impact of past and present design and technology on their

own daily life and the wider world.

· We have three threshold concepts that are covered in each year group to provide the children with the

disciplinary knowledge of DT so by the end of the Year Six the children will be ‘Designers’. The threshold concepts

are:

o Master practical skills,

o Design, make, evaluate and improve

o Take inspiration from design throughout history

· In our design technology curriculum, we cover cooking and nutrition, textiles, mechanisms, construction and

Electricals and electronics.

· In EYFS Expressive arts and design is taught in the EYFS. Some of the areas included in this are;

o Supporting creativity

o Different materials and resources to explore

o Cutting, joining, sticking

o Designing and designing with purpose

o Talking about their design and product they make. Including how they have made the model and how

they could improve or change their design.

Design and Technology is taught in blocks throughout the year. Each lesson is an afternoon. It is taught as a stand-alone subject to allow for clear progression year on year. Links to other subjects are only made when relevant and when products have a genuine purpose.

A typical sequence of work will involve:

o Identifying a product and purpose, researching similar, existing products, dismantling them and evaluating

their strengths and weaknesses.

o Designing their own products with detailed annotated drawings and lists of ingredients or materials, tools,

and processes. Children discuss links to science, explaining the properties that make their material the

correct choice for their design.

o Children follow their design plans to make their product only making alterations if absolutely essential to

ensure they don’t lose the opportunity to evaluate their original design.

o Children critically evaluate their product to decide how effectively it fulfilled the original design brief. They

will consider how they would improve their product in future as well as the longevity of their design and

the environment impact it has - could they have up-cycled any materials for their design?

If you would like further information about how we teach DT in Ironville & Codnor Park Primary School please see the co-ordinator Mrs N Booth or contact her via email info@ironvillecodnorpark.derbyshire.sch.uk. For those interested in seeing the content of the curriculum for the whole year, please go to the 'Long Term Plans'. 

Design & Technology National Curriculum

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