Design and Technology
School Vision
To give all the opportunity to be who God created them to be and have fullness of life.
Our Design and Technology Vision
“To enable children to make sense of the ‘made world’ in which they live through applying their substantive and disciplinary knowledge to design solutions to solve problems, preparing them for work in design industries.”
Design Technology Curriculum
Through our design technology curriculum we aim to develop children’s skills and knowledge in design, structures, mechanisms, electrical control and a range of materials, including food. We encourage children’s creativity and encourage them to think about important issues locally and around the world.
Statement for SEND
St. Peter’s Elwick CofE Primary School promotes a curriculum that puts all pupils, regardless of their needs, at the heart of what we do. By building mutual respect, we accept others for their differences believing that everyone is special and everyone has something to offer. Our inclusive and enriching curriculum, written for all children, provides pupils with meaningful and aspirational experiences as well as promoting personal growth for life-long learning. When the curriculum needs adapting, to suit the needs of individual children, appropriate modifications are made by the class teacher with support of the SENDCo and the Curriculum Subject Lead.
Why is Design Technology important at St. Peter’s Elwick?
Design and Technology at St. Peter’s Elwick C of E Primary School aims to inspire children to be innovative and creative thinkers who have the appreciation of the product design. Through the design, make and evaluate process. We want children to develop the confidence to take risks, through creating design concepts, modelling, testing and to be reflective learners who are able to evaluate their own and others’ work. We want our children to have an awareness of the impact that Design and Technology has on our lives and encourage children to become resourceful, enterprising citizens who will have the skills to contribute to future design advancements.
What does Design Technology look like at St. Peter’s Elwick?
Design Technology is an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. It is taught through a variety of creative and practical activities. Pupils are taught the knowledge, understanding, skills and vocabulary needed to engage in the process of designing, making and evaluating. We engage our children through activities which involve investigating and evaluating existing products, focussed tasks in which children develop particular aspects of knowledge and skills and then designing and making in which the children design and make ‘something’ that fits a given design brief. The children develop the ability to follow and then create a design specification for their product and are encouraged by the end of KS2 to create their own design specification which would enhance the given design brief and explain the rationale behind them.
What do the children at St. Peter’s Elwick think about Design Technology?
Year 1
”I have made lots of exciting things like a moving car and moving pictures with levers, wheels and sliders.”
Year 2
”It’s really good because we get to do our own designs and then make them.”
Year 3
“It’s really good because you learn about different designs and if you have done a design, you can look at it again and think about what you can do to improve it and make changes.”
Year 4
”It is fun when you create a product and it is quite simple when the teachers break down the steps for you.”
Year 5
”The teachers help in DT by teaching us how to use and make different inventions like when we made the moving animal with the wooden poles and we made an axel to make it go either up and down or sideways. I enjoyed looking at the different axels and how to make it go sideways or up and down and then we chose which one would be the best for our design.”
Year 6
”It is nice to have a go at designing and making things. We have made mechanisms.”
Here are some pictures of the hard work the children have been doing in Design Technology
Cultural Capital
Our curriculum is designed so all children are active participants in the research, design, make and evaluate process. They actively create their own products and work together to evaluate and improve their work. Children are all unique human beings and our design technology curriculum allows them to be hands on, exploring, researching and creating. The children are able to use their hands to explore materials, to twist, to turn, to bend, to mold, to cut, to tear, to join, to draw and to label. They are given many opportunities to explore and experience all those wonderful haptic moments which are essential to developing as a human being. We provide opportunities to learn about design technology around the world. The children research various bridges, they cook using various seasoning and ingredients. They research skylines around the world and how electricity is used to light these.
