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Design and Technology (D.T.)

At Grimes Dyke Primary School, we aim to provide all children with a broad and balanced design technology curriculum which prepares them for life beyond primary education.

We do this through topic-based projects encouraging children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts. Each year group teaches a textiles, construction and cooking based project throughout the year. The children are encouraged to become innovators and risk-takers by building on their skills through taught sequences.

The Design and Technology curriculum combines skills, knowledge and concepts to enable children to tackle real problems which are built on every year. It can improve analysis, problem solving, practical capability and evaluation skills. We aim to, wherever possible, link work to other subjects such as mathematics, science, computing and art.

High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the whole world.

Ethos

“Creativity is nothing but a mind set free.” –Torrie T. Asai

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” –Steve Jobs

We believe that Design Technology promotes children’s creativity and imagination. They are given the chance to solve real life problems in a variety of contexts and will develop creative, technical and practical expertise that is needed to perform everyday tasks. A love of DT will encourage and support pupils in questioning and evaluating how things work, and considering ways to improve the world around them.


What we teach

  • The National Curriculum for DT for EYFS, KS1 and KS2.
  • Making cross-curricular links enabling the embedding of scientific thinking and enquiry.

We follow the National Curriculum and make cross-curricular links wherever possible. Here at Grimes Dyke each class takes part in three design and technology topics across the course of the school year.  Current units of work across KS1 and KS2 can be found on the school’s Long Term cross-curricular plans. These are then used to produce Medium Term and Weekly plans, uploaded and stored on Learn Anywhere. DT in the Foundation Stage is based on Early Learning Goals, primarily Knowledge and Understanding of the World.

During DT lessons children will learn and develop skills which can be broken down into five main areas. These being:

  • Developing, planning and communicating ideas – Here children will develop skills in planning and designing functional creations. They will learn to draw detailed diagrams and will report using technical vocabulary.
  • Food – Here children will learn to prepare food products. They will taste a range of ingredients and food items to develop a sensory food vocabulary. They will weigh and measure using scales and will cut and shape ingredients using appropriate tools and equipment. Children will also learn about healthy diets and develop an understanding about safety and hygiene.
  • Textiles – Here children will make quality products develop sewing and decorative skills.
  • Construction and sheet materials – Here children will develop the skills to use various tools to cut accurately and safely, join and combine materials and choose appropriate materials for the purpose. As they make their way into years 5 and 6 children will learn how to control a model using ICT.
  • Evaluating – Here children will develop their skills of evaluating not only their own designs and products but those of others as well. They will use design criteria to make informed decisions and reflect on their work suggesting ways in which it could be improved.

 How we teach

All teachers are responsible for monitoring and evaluating their curriculum provision, ensuring that high teaching and learning standards are met, in line with the National Curriculum.

Each child has the chance to discover and develop their technical, practical and creative skills through a construction based topic. During this they will build and develop functional structures using a variety of materials and tools.

Children have the chance to explore materials and stitching within a textile based topic. Design plays a big part in this topic and children will learn to use different types of stitches along with other useful techniques. They will create textile based objects that are usable and useful.

As well as this they take part in a cooking based topic. KS1 work alongside class teachers to learn the basic skills of cooking. They explore the importance of healthy diets and safe and hygienic surfaces and tools. They also explore a variety of ingredients and learn to weigh and measure these. All of KS2 are taught cooking in small groups to make more complex savoury foods.

Please click here to read our D.T. Policy

Please click here to read our Skills Progression Document