Intent

Our aim at St Mary’s is for all children to be motivated to explore their imagination and creativity when designing and creating products. We want to provide opportunities for children to use their courage to take risks, problem solve, experiment, evaluate and adapt throughout the design process. We hope that children will flourish, enabling them to be resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens who are inspired to become engineers and designers of the future.

Implementation

In the Early Years, we create a learning environment that nurtures children's fundamental skills, setting the stage for their future learning in Design and Technology. Our aim is to provide them with daily access to a diverse range of resources such as paints, scissors, tape, glue, as well as materials for junk modelling. This enables children to engage in hands-on construction, using basic tools to bring their own ideas to life. Through this process, they not only create, but also learn to evaluate their creations.

In Key Stage 1 and 2, our Design and Technology curriculum, which covers the objectives set out in the National Curriculum, is developed through the ‘Project on a Page’ scheme. It outlines a clear progression in subject knowledge and practical skills of Design and Technology. The children learn the skills and subject knowledge related to food technology, mechanisms, electrical systems, building structures and textiles. Each year group covers three units per year (one per term), which always involves the recording of learning within our St.Mary’s Design and Technology booklets. This ensures clear progression through each unit, following the same design process of ‘Investigate and Evaluate’, ‘Focused Skills Tasks’, ‘Design and Make’ and then ‘Evaluate’. At each stage, the use of Edward De Bono thinking hats are used as they are imperative to ensure that learners are thinking critically and reflecting on the design process at each step.

As real-world experiences and interactions play a crucial role in children's learning, we carefully select trips and visitors to further enrich our curriculum. These experiences allow children to connect their learning in Design and Technology with the world around them. Whether it's learning about pulleys at Mercedes Benz World, visiting Pizza Express, or participating in design competitions, these opportunities provide children with a deeper understanding of the subject and inspire their creativity.