Intent:

All pupils at Exminster have the right to have rich, deep learning experiences that balance all the aspects of Design Technology. Design Technology prepares children to participate in tomorrow’s rapidly changing technologies. They learn to think and intervene creatively to improve the quality of life. The subject calls for pupils to become autonomous and creative problem solvers both as individuals and as members of a team. They must look for needs, wants and opportunities, responding to them by developing a range of design ideas for making products and systems. Through a variety of creative and practical activities, we encourage children to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in the process of designing and making. We offer opportunities to work in a range of relevant contexts such as their homes and school, gardens and playgrounds, the local community and the wider environment.

As part of their work with food, children learn how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Learning how to cook is al life skill that enables pupils to feed themselves and others affordably and well, now and in later life.

We teach a curriculum that enables children to become designers by:

• Learning through their designing and making. They combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetics, social and environmental issues, function and industrial practices.
• Learning to make informed value judgements and aesthetic and practical decisions, becoming actively involved in making images, objects and learning to shape their own environment.
• Reflecting on, learning from and evaluating present and past design and technology, its uses and effects.
• Developing innovation and becoming discriminative and informed users of products.

Implementation:

As part of the planning process, teachers are resourced with:

• A knowledge mat which outlines key vocabulary all children must master;
• A library of online resources that teacher can access
• A cycle of lessons which carefully plans for progression of skills
• A bank of specific and relevant tools and resources for teacher to use
• Creative curriculum funds to ensure a good quality project and outcome.
• Challenge questions for pupils to apply their learning in a different setting or context

Impact:

Our Design Technology curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Sharing good practice with other staff members.
• Through discussions with pupils about their learning.
• Individual sketch books continued over each year group to show progression, record observations and to review and revisit ideas.