Holy Trinity’s Design and Technology scheme of work aims to inspire our children to be innovative and creative thinkers, who have an appreciation for the product design cycle through the formation of ideas, creation and evaluation. We want them to develop the confidence to take risks through drafting design concepts, modelling and testing, and to be reflective learners who evaluate their work and the work of others. We aim to build an awareness of the impact of design and technology on our lives and encourage the children to become resourceful, enterprising individuals who will have the skills to contribute to future design advancements.
At Holy Trinity, design and technology skills are taught, learned, embedded and built upon in each topic the children study and these topics are revisited and developed as they progress through primary school and beyond. This supports our children to reach the National curriculum end of key stage attainment targets.
The DT National curriculum outlines 3 main stages of the design process: design, make and evaluate. Each stage of the design process is underpinned by technical knowledge which encompasses the contextual, historical and technical understanding required for each strand. Cooking and nutrition has a separate section, with a focus on specific principles, skills and techniques in food, including where food comes from, diet and seasonality.
The National curriculum organizes the DT attainment targets under 5 strands:
We have a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these 5 strands across each year group. Through our teaching, our children respond to design briefs and scenarios that require consideration of the needs of others, developing their skills in 6 key areas:
Each key area follows the design process (design, make and evaluate) and has a particular theme and focus from the technical knowledge or cooking and nutrition section of the National curriculum. Key areas are revisited again and again with increasing complexity, allowing children to revisit and build on their previous learning.
Our lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including practical hands-on, computer-based and inventive tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles. Every lesson can be, and is, differentiated to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all children, and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning if required, are provided. Knowledge Organisers for each unit support our children in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.
We show the children videos created by subject specialists to help pupils to see design techniques modelled by experts, to ensure delivery of DT at Holy Trinity is of the highest quality.
The impact of our DT lessons can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Each lesson enables teachers to assess pupils against the learning objectives and each unit has a quiz.
After the implementation of our Design & Technology curriculum, the children should leave Holy Trinity equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and be innovative and resourceful members of society.
The expected impact of following our DT curriculum is that children will: