Design and Technology
The Design and Technology Curriculum at The Pines
At The Pines School, we value Design and Technology as an important part of children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. Design and Technology provides children with opportunities to explore designing, creating and evaluating processes and have the enjoyment of exploring construction through planning, drafting and experimentation. It enables children to develop resilience and curiosity about the world around them and to communicate and express their individual interests, thought and ideas.
The curriculum will equip children with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent, evaluate and create their own constructions. Children will be challenged to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of design and technology. Our curriculum encourages imagination and creativity; involving children in a range of practical activities using visual, tactile and sensory experiences, which will enable them to communicate what they see, think and feel through the creation of their own inventions.
Intent:
The curriculum is designed to engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own work. It aims to support the development of the key skills of decision making, developing independence, taking responsibilities, developing patience, critical thinking, self-reflection and to share practice with peers. We aim to develop children’s self-esteem and their mental wellbeing through participating in Design and Technology activities. We encourage all children to be proud of their achievements and having pride in the work produced. Children will be challenged to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of construction and how design and technology reflects and shapes our history, and contributes to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation. We intend that children will be challenged to develop increased proficiency designing and making products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts that consider their own and others’ needs, wants and values.
Implementation:
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in design and technology, we implement a curriculum that is progressive and provides the full National Curriculum which is carefully differentiated to the needs of the children. The curriculum is overseen by a lead teacher from Primary and Secondary who is supported by a named member of the SLT. Design and technology is taught as part of thematic curriculum in Primary and weekly discrete lessons in secondary. Teachers planning is supported by a knowledge overview document and medium term plans. These documents clearly map out the National Curriculum into a broad, progressive curriculum. Planning ensures outcomes are carefully differentiating to the needs of all children and is mapped out to ensure there is clear challenge and high expectations for all learners. We adopt a practical approach to learning and teaching in design and technology, enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences. At The Pines, we provide a variety of opportunities for learning to take place inside and outside of the classroom. We encourage opportunities for cross-curricular Design and Technology experiences and frequently use our outdoor facilities for the children to develop their creativity.
The key aim of the Early Years curriculum is to provide high quality play with planning based on themes allowing pupils a holistic approach to learning. Planning for the specific area of expressive arts and design aims is to guide the pupils to explore and use a range of tools and materials safely. Within the continuous provision (activities provided throughout the day indoors and out) children have the opportunity to create and share their creations by engaging with play that is child led, play which is sensitively supported and extended by adults and play that is guided towards specific educational outcomes.
Impact:
Within Design and Technology, we strive to create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing stimulating, practical learning opportunities for all children. Our curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression and prepare children for their pathways in KS4 and beyond. We focus on progression of knowledge and skills and developing curriculum vocabulary. Children will become creative learners with increasing independence and who are confident in designing and making products. Children will be challenged to develop knowledge about the architects and designers of the world. Creativity and uniqueness will be celebrated and children will be challenged to develop the skills in evaluating and improving the work they have created. When teaching, there will be an emphasis placed on individuality and children will be given the freedom to explore real life versions of products they will go on to create.