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West Wycombe School

An Academy of the Great Learners Trust

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Design and Technology

Design and Technology (DT) at West Wycombe School 

 

Design and Technology (DT) at West Wycombe School allows children to develop creativity, problem-solving skills, and practical knowledge through hands-on projects. Pupils explore designing, making, and evaluating products using various materials and techniques. The curriculum encourages innovation, teamwork, and resilience, helping children apply their learning to real-world challenges while fostering a love for design and engineering.

 

Intent

Our Design and Technology curriculum is designed to inspire pupils to think creatively and innovatively while developing an appreciation for the product design process, from initial ideas to creation and evaluation. We encourage pupils to take risks, experiment with design concepts, and refine their ideas through modelling and testing. By fostering reflective learning, we support children in evaluating both their work and that of others. Through this approach, we aim to enhance their understanding of the role of design and technology in everyday life and equip them with the skills to become resourceful, enterprising individuals who can contribute to future advancements in the field.

 

Implementation 

The National Curriculum for Design and Technology outlines three core stages of the design process: design, make, and evaluate. Each stage is supported by technical knowledge, which includes the contextual, historical, and technical insights needed for each aspect of the subject. Cooking and nutrition are treated separately, focusing on key principles, skills, and techniques related to food, such as its origins, diet, and seasonal considerations. The curriculum sets out the attainment targets for Design and Technology under three main categories: Design, Make, and Evaluate.

 

Impact

Each of our key areas follows the design process (design, make, and evaluate) and centres on a specific theme or aspect from the curriculum's technical knowledge or cooking and nutrition sections. The Kapow Primary scheme adopts a spiral approach, revisiting key topics with increasing complexity, which enables pupils to build on their prior learning as they progress.

 

Our lessons employ a variety of teaching strategies, including independent tasks, paired and group work, hands-on practical activities, computer-based tasks, and creative challenges. This diversity ensures that lessons remain engaging and cater to various learning styles. Differentiated guidance is provided to ensure all pupils can access the material, with opportunities to challenge and extend learning when appropriate. Topic-based booklets for each unit support pupils in consolidating factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.

 

Reception:

Children learn to safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools, and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form, and function. They share their creations, explaining the process they have used. They also use props and materials when role-playing characters in narratives and stories.

 

Year 1:

Cooking and Nutrition: Create healthy smoothies. 

Textiles: Create a puppet by combining pieces of fabric using pinning, stapling or glueing.

Mechanisms: Create a moving story using mechanisms. 

 

Year 2: 

Cooking and Nutrition: Design and make a wrap to form a balanced diet.

Mechanisms: Make a moving monster using pivots and linkages.

Textiles: Sew a pouch using fabric and a running stitch. 

 

Year 3:

Cooking and Nutrition: Adapt a recipe to make it seasonal. 

Textiles: Cross-stitch and applique are used to join two materials together.

Mechanical Systems: Pneumatic toys.

 

Year 4:

Electrical Systems: Use electrical products to create torches.

Cooking and Nutrition: Adapt a recipe to meet the consumer's needs. 

Structure: Create pavilions using a range of materials. 

 

Year 5:

Mechanical Systems: Create a pop-up books using different mechanisms.

Cooking and Nutrition: Adapt a recipe to make it healthier.

Textiles: Sew stuffed toys using a blanket stitch. 

 

Year 6: 

Cooking and Nutrition: Dine with me- adapt a menu to meet dietary requirements. 

Structures: Create a playground using a range of materials 

Textiles: Choose the most appropriate material to create a waistcoat.

 

Links Between Topics:

 

The progression of topics from Reception to Year 6 demonstrates a clear development of skills and concepts across different areas of Design and Technology:

 

  • Exploration and Creativity: Reception focuses on experimenting with materials, tools, and techniques, laying the foundation for later structured projects. Children explore textures, colours, and forms, which underpin later work in textiles, structures, and mechanisms.

 

  • Cooking and Nutrition: Beginning with simple healthy smoothies in Year 1, the curriculum develops towards more complex tasks, such as designing balanced meals (Year 2) and adapting recipes for seasonality (Year 3). By Year 6, children create full menus considering dietary requirements.

 

  • Textiles: Early stages involve basic joining techniques (pinning, stapling, glueing in Year 1), progressing to sewing (running stitch in Year 2, cross-stitch and applique in Year 3). By Year 5, they use blanket stitch for stuffed toys, and in Year 6, they make more complex textile items, like a waistcoat, selecting appropriate materials.

 

  • Mechanisms and Mechanical Systems: Starting with simple moving stories in Year 1, pupils progress to moving monsters (Year 2) and pneumatic toys (Year 3). By Year 5, they create pop-up books with different mechanisms, showing a deeper understanding of movement.

 

  • Structures: The development moves from making simple pavilions (Year 4) to designing and constructing a playground (Year 6), demonstrating increasing complexity in structural design.

 

  • Electrical Systems: Introduced in Year 4 through torches, this marks a shift towards integrating electrical components into projects.

 

Overall, the curriculum builds on prior knowledge, gradually increasing in complexity and independence, ensuring children develop practical skills alongside creativity and problem-solving abilities.

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