Design and Technology
"It’s through mistakes you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good."
Paula Scher (Graphic Designer)
Intent
At Hollywood Primary School we are committed to providing all children with opportunities to reach their potential. We aim for our children to love design and technology by giving them a carefully crafted curriculum and for us, DT is not about making something to take home, its creating products for a specific person and purpose.. Our children should have no limits with their ambitions when they grow up and aim to inspire them to feel they have the skills, knowledge and motivation be the next legendary graphic designer, carpenter or architect.
"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like, design is how it works."
Steve Jobs (Apple Inc)
Our DT curriculum aims:
To foster enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making things;
To explore attitudes towards the world and how we live and work within it;
To develop an understanding of technological processes of products by their manufacturing process and their contribution to our society;
To develop imaginative thinking in children and to enable them to talk about what they like and dislike when designing and making products;
To enable children to talk about how producers work, and to draw and model their ideas;
To encourage children to select appropriate tools and techniques for making a product, whilst following safe procedures.
Implementation
Our curriculum is shaped by our whole school vision. In particular, Design and Technology can support children to overcome challenges, solve problems and develop resilience. Our vision discusses an ever changing world, and in the field of DT this is extremely relevant. We want our teaching to enable children to be able to apply their skills, perhaps to careers or endeavors that haven’t yet been developed. A solid foundation of design and technology learning will enable them to make the progress required in future schooling to enable them to be the designers of the future.
In the foundation stage, regular designing and making or construction activities are made available for child-initiated development and learning and there will be teacher-led activities throughout the year, which will develop the basic skills needed for the progression of skills in their journey at Hollywood.
We base our key stage 1-6 curriculum on the National Curriculum (2014) for Design and Technology and believe it is vital to provide a balanced approach to the areas of DT. Throughout their time in Hollywood, children will engage in the design technology process and will apply knowledge and skills of textiles, food, resistant materials (mechanisms, woodwork) and graphic design. We have planned our own curriculum and progression of knowledge and skills to enable children to have rich experiences, linked where possible to their wider curriculum learning to enhance the purpose and audience of the product the children design and make.
Design and Technology is taught in blocked units throughout the year (see Curriculum Map for more information). We believe this approach allows children to become immersed in their learning during a week or two weeks, and allows adequate time to follow the stages of design, from planning through to final evaluation. We allocate 3 DT mornings through the year, so teachers can allocate an entire day to the DT process as required.
We aim for children to develop an understanding of the world through first-hand experience so wherever possible children will be given opportunities to visit the local area, museums, shops/restaurants and meet with real people to develop their learning and experiences.
Impact
When our pupils leave Hollywood Primary School they will:
Have a positive attitude towards DT and understand the satisfaction and purpose in designing and making things, and how it relates to their everyday lives.
Have an excellent understanding of technological processes of products by their manufacturing process and their contribution to our society
Be competent in all stages of design and technology
Be able to confidently articulate their own opinions, of their own and others’ work
To be confident to safely select appropriate tools and techniques for making a product
We will measure the impact of our curriculum by:
Use of tracking to ensure progression of teaching and skills over year groups.
Teachers assessments of children’s work on a continual basis through discussion and questioning, work completed and products made.
Children’s self-evaluate as a form of self-assessment.
Some Useful Websites
http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/ - The content of Food a Fact of Life is carefully tailored to the teaching curriculum for 5- to 11- year olds. The site provides interactive projects and information sheets for children to help them discover more about the food they eat and you can download classroom and lesson resources including PowerPoint presentations, posters and activity cards.
http://pie.exploratorium.edu/scrapbook/cabaret/ - this website is a part of the Cabaret Mechanical site about understanding motion. It shows all types of cams, linkages, gears etc.
http://www.design-council.org.uk - Design Council
Help your child discover …. These websites give ideas for designing and food technology. Worth having a look at to give ideas to try with pupils and parents!
http://www.nutrition.org.uk - British Nutrition Foundation. This site contains a wealth of information to support all aspects of food in school – healthy eating, information about healthy schools, curriculum advice, case studies and downloadable resources.