Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School
Together in the spirit of love and forgiveness our family learns to grow in hope and joy

Design and Technology

Curriculum Intent

 

At The Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School, we intend to build an design and technology curriculum which develops learning and results in the acquisition of knowldge and skills. Children will know more, remember more and understand more. We aim for our design and technology curriculum to include appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum Design Technology Programmes of study. We encourage children to show the creativity and imagination to design, make and evaluate products that are useful in real life situations. Children are encouraged to reflect on designs and opportunities to alter design for purpose with effectiveness for puropse in mind. We encourage children to become innovative thinkers and risk takers. Design and Technowology is linked to other areas of the curriculum where possible. 

Our Curriculum Drivers:

 

Spirituality: As a Catholic School we are driven by a spiritually rich curriculum that holds Gospel values at its heart, encompassing the importance of British values and Equality.

Possibilities: A curriculum that provides quality experiences, encouraging our children to have high aspiration for their future and to be aware of all the opportunities available to them.

Resilience: Our curriculum encourages children to learn how to think well, it seeks to remove barriers to learning through growth mind-set, developing problem-solving skills and bounce-back ability.

Implementation
 
Our pupils should be able to organise their knowledge, skills and understanding around the following learning concepts:

Master practical techniques : 

This concept involves learning and understanding new techniques, implementing technical and practical knowledge and using subject specific vocabulary.

Take inspiration from design :

This concept involves using artists and designers from all areas of design and technology to inspire our own designs and support our reflections and evaluations. 

Design, make, evaluate and improve :

This concept involves a cycle of thinking, making, breaking and repeating which creating new designs, with critical thinking occuring throughout the entire process. 

These threshold concepts  underpin learning in each milestone. This enables pupils to reinforce and build upon prior learning, make connections and develop subject specific language. 

The vertical accumulation of knowledge and skills from Years 1 to 6 is mapped as follows:

Milestone 1 - Year 1 & Year 2 Milestone 2 - Year 3 and Year 4 Milestone 3 - Year 5 & Year 6

Master practical techniques
Materials
• Cut materials safely using tools provided.
• Measure and mark out to the nearest centimetre.
• Demonstrate a range of cutting and
shaping techniques (such as tearing, cutting,
folding and curling).
• Demonstrate a range of joining techniques (such as
gluing, using hinges or combining materials to
strengthen).
Structures
• Practise drilling, screwing, gluing and nailing
materials to make and strengthen products.
Mechanisms
• Create products using levers, wheels and
winding mechanisms.
Food and nutrition
• Cut, peel and grate ingredients safely
and hygienically.
• Measure or weigh using measuring cups
or electronic scales.
• Assemble and cook ingredients.
 Materials
• Cut materials accurately and safely by selecting
appropriate tools.
• Measure and mark out to the nearest millimetre.
• Apply appropriate cutting and shaping techniques
that include cuts within the perimeter of the material
(such as slots or cut outs).
• Select appropriate joining techniques.
Electrics and computing
• Create products with series and parallel circuits.
• Control and monitor models using apps designed
for this purpose.
Mechanisms
• Use scientific knowledge of the transference of
forces to choose appropriate mechanisms for a
product (such as linked levers or pneumatics).
Structures
• Choose suitable techniques to construct products
or to repair items.
• Strengthen materials using suitable techniques.
Food and nutrition
• Prepare ingredients hygienically using appropriate
utensils.
• Measure ingredients accurately to the nearest gram.
• Follow a recipe.
• Assemble and cook ingredients (controlling		 Materials
• Cut materials with precision and refine the finish with
appropriate tools (such as sanding wood after cutting or
using a more precise scissor cut after roughly cutting out a
shape).
• Show an understanding of the qualities of materials in order
to choose appropriate tools to cut and shape (e.g. the nature
of fabric may require sharper scissors than would be used to
cut paper).
Electrics and computing
• Create products using electronics kits that employ a number
of components (such as LEDs and resistors).
• Write code to control and monitor models or products.
Structures
• Develop a range of practical skills to create products (such as
cutting, drilling and screwing, nailing, gluing, filing and
sanding).
Mechanisms
• Convert rotary motion to linear using cams.
• Use innovative combinations of electronics (or computing)
and mechanics in product designs.
Food and nutrition
• Understand the importance of correct storage and handling
of ingredients (using knowledge of micro-organisms).
• Measure accurately and calculate ratios of ingredients to
scale up or down from a recipe.
• Demonstrate a range of baking and cooking techniques.
• Create and refine recipes, including ingredients, methods,
cooking times and temperatures.

Take inspiration from design
• Explore objects and designs to identify
likes and dislikes.
• Suggest improvements to existing designs.
• Explore how products have been created.
 • Identify some of the great designers in all of
the areas of study (including pioneers
in horticultural techniques) to generate ideas
for designs.
• Improve upon existing designs, giving
reasons for choices.
• Disassemble products to understand
how they work.		 • Combine elements of design from a range
of inspirational designers throughout
history, giving reasons for choices.
• Create innovative designs that improve
upon existing products.
• Evaluate the design of products so as
to suggest improvements to the
user experience.

Design, make, avaluate and improve
• Design products that have a clear
purpose and an intended user.
• Make products, refining the design as
work progresses.
• Use software to design.
• Design with purpose by identifying
opportunities to design.
• Make products by working efficiently (such as
by carefully selecting materials).
• Refine work and techniques as work
progresses, continually evaluating the product design.
• Use apps to design and represent product designs.
 
• Design with the user in mind, motivated
by the service a product will offer
(rather than simply for profit).
• Make products through stages
of prototypes, making continual
refinements.
• Ensure products have a high-quality
finish, using art skills where appropriate.
• Use prototypes, cross-sectional
diagrams and computer-aided designs
to represent designs.
       

 

Aspirations

 

Pupils develop an understanding of how subjects and specific skills are linked to future jobs. 
Here are some of the jobs you could aspire to do in the future as a Design Technician:
  • Fashion Designer
  • Chef
  • Carpenter 
  • Software engineer

For more careers, please visit First Careers.

Impact

Children will have clear enjoyment and confidence in design and technology that they will then apply to other areas of the curriculum. Children will ultimately know more, remember more and understand more about Design Technology, demonstrating this knowledge when using tools or skills in other areas of the curriculum and in opportunities out of school. The large majority of children will achieve age related expectations in Design Technology - this will be decided using a mixture of summative and formative assessment. Children will develop life skills such as cooking, designing, repairing and evaluating. Children learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.