At St John's CE (VC) Primary School we want every child to be happy and enthusiastic learners of Design and Technology, and to be eager to achieve their very best in order to fulfil their God-given talents. We firmly believe that the recipe for success is high-quality first-wave teaching in Design and Technology, which is central to the life of our happy, caring school.

Implementation – How do we translate our vision into practice?

• The curriculum hours in Design and Technology are non-negotiable and will be followed by all staff in the school.  Fixed timetables will be set before the academic year and monitored by the Senior Leadership Team of the school.
• Subject specialists from our partner secondary school, are and will continue to be integral to the planning process. This will aid the transition to Key Stage 3.
• The subject leader for Design and Technology will meet the senior leadership team on a monthly basis to evaluate provision in order to ensure that teaching and learning in Design and Technology is outstanding. Where necessary, staff will receive coaching and training in Design and Technology.
• Carefully designed schemes of learning in Design and Technology ensure consistency and progress of all learners.
• Success criteria in every Design and Technology lesson are set in order to guide children to achieve their potential. This ensures work is demanding and matches the aims of the curriculum.
• High-quality teaching responds to the needs of children. Spaced learning is a key focus of all formative and summative assessments with teachers actively marking work in lessons in order to identify misconceptions early.
• High-quality input from experts and educational resources complement the delivery of specialist learning admirably.  Children understand how Design and Technology is used in the wider world including in careers.
• Teaching in drawing skills will be focused on and students will be able to draw a range of 3D shapes accurately and using a ruler.
• Presentation skills will be taught to ensure that students are taking pride in their design work and in work that may be shared as part of a whole class activity. Students should be confident in explaining their design work to peers and teachers and acknowledge feedback as a measure of driving work and progress forward and not a criticism to hold on to.
• Students will have a clear understanding of basic health and safety procedures and how this is linked to the equipment that they use during practical sessions.
• In Design and Technology, students will be confident when using equipment and understand and explain simple manufacturing processes that have been taught when completing any practical element.
• An understanding of different material areas should also be covered in relation to; Textiles (Fabrics), Product Design (Wood/Plastic/Metal), Graphics (Paper, Board and Printing) and Food (Ingredients) gifted and talented students should be pushed for specific material names and link them to the correct material area.

Scheme of Learning 

At St.John's we identify that D&T does not follow a linear learning process. Therefore, our curriculum enables a constantly evolving learning process where children are able to generate ideas, create prototypes, investigate existing products and evaluate throughout. 

In Design and Technology, children will develop planning and communication skills, including presenting ideas, producing meaningful and quality products, and will be reflective on their processes and outcomes.

The Scheme of Learning follows the National Curriculum.  It allows for appropriate sequencing and aims to secure long-term memory as well as the enjoyment of learning in Design and Technology. 

 We take inspiration from the D&T Association, using their 'products on a page to form the basis of our planning. Each project involves the practical application of the skills with meaningful and interesting contexts

Assessment

Each lesson will include live marking (as per the Marking and Feedback Policy).  Work will be marked/evaluated fortnightly following the Marking and Feedback Policy.  

Homework is not formally set in Design & Technology but children are encouraged to take part in enrichment opportunities such as: reading about Design & Technology, watching programmes and visiting places of interest so that they know about a range of design work influenced by different design areas such as; Architecture, Chefs, Fashion Designers, Car Designers and Product Designers. High-quality teaching responds to the needs of children. Spaced learning is a key focus of all formative and summative assessments with teachers actively marking work in lessons in order to identify misconceptions early.  

The assessment also takes place half-termly and is reviewed to ensure gaps are filled and good progression is made. An assessment grid is used to formally record an overview of progress of each child. 
 

Lessons

During each lesson, children experience activities and tasks such as:

Investigate and Evaluative Activities (IEA’S)

• This is where we learn about D&T in the wider world
• We explore and learn from a range of existing products
• We question, explore, disassemble, handle, look and experience.

Focus Tasks (FT’S)

• This is the groundwork
• We are learning a piece of specific technical knowledge, designing skills and making skills.

Design, Make and Evaluate Assignment (DMEA’S)

• This is where we create our ideas
• We apply everything we have learned
• We create functional products with users and purposes in mind
• We continue to review and evaluate

Cultural Capital 

• Children will learn about key figures and design work and become increasingly more familiar with those who have successfully developed creative, technical and practical expertise within design ranging from Friedensreich Hundertwasser to Antony Gormley.   
• Opportunities will exist for children of all ages to experience learning beyond the classroom. 
• This will allow them to enrich their knowledge by, for example, visiting a local housing development and viewing show homes with a member of the design team to ascertain how the aesthetic nature of these example homes is designed.
• Children will develop a real understanding and appreciation of the world learning from the best that has been developed and said.  For example, architects, chefs or engineers.