Design and Technology at St Stephen's School

Intent:

At St Stephen’s we aim to provide all children with a broad and balanced curriculum which prepares them for life beyond primary education. We encourage children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. During Design and Technology, we teach children the language skills they will need to be effective communicators. We actively encourage our children to be critical thinkers, forward planners and effective problem solvers. We also teach our children to be able to work as capable individuals and as part of a valuable, productive team. Resilience is a key theme running through our DT curriculum, and the children are encouraged to become innovators and risk- takers.

Implementation:

The child’s use and understanding of the process of design and use of technology needs to be developed by effective teaching and learning through a considered sequence of experiences.  The design process will be supported by teachers who will flexibly interpret and adapt the planning framework provided to fit within their own creative teaching and deliver exciting and engaging lessons that are responsive to children’s specific skills and individual learning needs. They will be accountable for their teaching and be able to justify why they have chosen to teach in that specific way.

Design and Technology in EYFS

Expressive Art and Design

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, Expressive Art and Design is embedded throughout the daily provision, in both Nursery and Reception.

Creative activities are used as a vehicle and starting point for much of the children’s learning, either through imaginative role play and dressing up, small world story telling, mask and puppet making, recreating known and imagined story settings, making creatures out of playdough, clay or leaves, sticks... the choice of materials as a starting point is endless. The children explore a wide range of materials and media. They explore textures, colour mixing, manipulating and joining, constructing, making decisions and refining their ideas. The children sing and dance, learn a repertoire of songs, explore sounds and rhythms and recreate their own.

Our intent is to provide children with the materials, resources or activities that facilitate their learning or understanding of a particular topic but if they choose to use these in a different way and with a different outcome that is fine.
Our focus is very much about the process or creating and imagining and the learning journey the children make rather than the end product.

Impact:

The impact and effectiveness of the teaching and learning in DT, will be seen through the children’s enjoyment, their attainment and knowledge and their ability to talk about and respond to design and the design process using design vocabulary. Evidence will be seen in the progression of specific skills across the year groups. It will be measurable by work evidenced in their curriculum connections books, discussion with pupils, digitally and in displays.

Enterprise Skills:

Our Design and Technology lessons are a perfect place to practice our enterprise skills.

Extra Curricular Design and Technology Experiences

Kidovation Challenge:

KS2 took part in the Kidovation Project. We looked at The Big Problem: 'How to encourage friends and family to exercise and find it fun?' We developed our ideation, prototyping and pitching skills. We came up with great solutions - an electricity generating basketball game, a heart checker, a snack chaser, a boxing robot, a work out station, virtual goggles and a reward giving Fitbit.