At Parkhead Community Primary School, we aim to provide the children with design and technology lessons that will inspire them to think creativity, take risks and evaluate their work and the work of others. Our pupils will learn design and technology through a range of hands-on, interactive and engaging lessons to develop confident and resilient learners. Vocabulary will be a key focus in each lesson, ensuring that all pupils are able to correctly articulate and explain their ideas.

Intent 

At Parkhead Community Primary School, we aim to:

• Inspire pupils to be innovative and creative thinkers who are able to create and evaluate their own ideas.
• Develop the confidence of the pupils so that they are able to take risks when designing and testing their ideas.
• Support pupils to become reflective learners who evaluate their work and the work of others in an encouraging and positive way.
• Help our children to become resourceful and enterprising citizens who will aspire to contribute to future design advancements.
• Build on the skills, knowledge and interests of the pupils in order for them to make good progress in all lessons and meet the targets set out in the national curriculum.

Implementation

At Parkhead Community Primary School, design and technology lessons are planned from the Kapow scheme of work and adapted to meet the needs of our pupils to provide them with a broad, balanced and captivating curriculum.

The design and technology curriculum outlines the three main stages of 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 curriculum. Key areas are revisited year after year with increasing complexity, to allow pupils to build upon their knowledge.

Lessons include a range of teaching strategies including independent tasks, paired and group work and hands-on activities. Tasks are also differentiated in accordance with the needs of the children in the class. This ensures all children are able to access lessons and succeed.

Lessons are either blocked each half term or taught weekly, depending on the unit of work. Where possible, the units are linked to the wider curriculum and areas of ‘Forest Schools’ to ensure pupils are able to see the importance and value of the skills that they are learning and apply them in a variety of contexts.

Impact 

Our children will be equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in secondary education and be innovative and resourceful members of society. They will have an appreciation for key individuals, inventions and events in history that impact our world today and the role they can play in the future.

Progress is monitored through a range of formative and summative assessment opportunities throughout each unit of work. Namely through:

• Looking at pupils’ work, especially over time as they gain skills and knowledge
• End of unit quizzes
• Discussing pupil’s work with them and encouraging them to articulate what they have learnt and how they have applied their skills.

The design and technology curriculum encourages our children to become creative and resilient learners who are able to work independently and collaboratively to make ideas become reality. Our children are also able to self-reflect at different stages of their learning and identify areas to improve, and apply these skills across the curriculum.