Design and Technology

Design and Technology at St Anne’s School

Subject Leader Mrs S Dovernor

“With Christ in our hearts we live life to the full.”

INTENT

Through Design and Technology at St Anne's, pupils are encouraged to become independent, creative problem-solvers and thinkers as individuals and as part of a team. The iterative design process (design, make, evaluate) is fundamental and runs throughout the teaching in all year groups. This process encourages children to identify real and relevant problems, evaluate existing products and then take risks and innovate when designing and creating solutions using skills from across the curriculum.  Pupils will be taught to use tools correctly and safely, embedding previous learning and refining skills. The pupils use a range of practical and technical expertise, allowing specific time to practice these skills and are then encouraged to think critically, evaluating their own work and that of others in order to learn and reflect on their experiences. 

As a 'School of Health' St Anne's pupils will learn about cooking, food and nutrition, ensuring that they acquire the fundamental life skills in order to be able to feed themselves healthily and independently, whilst learning about where food comes from, therefore making connections with their geographical and scientific knowledge.

It is our aim at St Anne's to equip our pupils with not only the minimum statutory requirements of the Design and Technology National Curriculum but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

IMPLEMENTATION

The Design and Technology programme of study at St Anne’s follows the National Curriculum  to ensure both progression and coverage across Key Stage 1 and 2.  This provides a broad framework and outlines the knowledge and skills taught in each Key Stage. Teachers plan lessons for their class using our progression of skills document.  The progression document and using the aims of the National Curriculum ensures the curriculum is covered and the skills taught is progressive from year group to year group.

To ensure that the children have the opportunity to produce 'high quality' pieces of work using the 'Design, Make, Evaluate,' approach ,we teach our Design and Technology curriculum over three creative weeks:  Take One Artist, Take One Book and Take One Country.  During these weeks the teachers ensure that they use the children's interest to make sure that learning is engaging, broad and balanced. 

The children's learning is further enhanced through the children have the opportunity to use their Design and Technology skills in other areas of the curriculum.

 Design and Technology Curriculum Map

Design and Technology Curriculum Document

IMPACT

The impact of our  Design and Technology curriculum will lead to all children making progress over time across key stages relative to a child’s individual starting point and their progression of skills. Our Design and Technology curriculum will also lead pupils to be enthusiastic learners, evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice, their final pieces and sketchbooks.  By embedding the formal elements, every child is encouraged to be creative, innovative and reflective on their own and others’ practice using the subject-specific vocabulary to support their reasoning.  Achievements are celebrated in classrooms, in galleries and corridor displays.

We aim for the children develop their creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.  We want them to  apply their knowledge, understanding and skills to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users and critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others. We want the children to leave Saint Anne's understand and applying the principles of nutrition to their everyday lives.

During our Design and Technology weeks children will design and make a range of products. A good quality finish will be expected in all design and activities made appropriate to the age and ability of the child.