DT Curriculum Leader: Mrs Corlett

For more information about how DT is delivered at Hindsford, please e-mail Mrs Corlett via the enquiries e-mail enquiries@admin.hindsford.wigan.sch.uk.

Intent:

The intent of the DT Curriculum at Hindsford is to provide plenty of opportunities for the children to learn, apply and strengthen essential skills required in the designing, making and evaluating of an effective product for a given purpose.

It is also the intent of the DT Curriculum to ensure that the children are well-equipped with useful technical knowledge to support them in the design and making of their product. For example: Learning how to strengthen a structure to make it more stable, learning how to use mechanisms or electrical systems in their designs and learning how to use computer programming to control a product.

In addition, the school aims to develop the children’s use and understanding of technical vocabulary associated with this subject. This is so that the children can articulate the skills that they have applied, the equipment that they have used and describe the material/s and features of the product that they have made.

Implementation:

Early Years:

In Early Years, the children develop essential basic skills in design and technology which prepares them for their transition into Year 1. This is by the teacher creating many opportunities for the children to carry out D&T related activities across all areas of learning.

The most relevant statements for DT are taken from the following areas of learning:

• Physical Development

• Expressive Arts and Design

• Understanding the World

Years 1 to 6:

From Year 1 upwards, the children will engage in three DT units a year which involve the children exploring, researching, designing, making, technical knowledge/skills and evaluating.

Below is a copy of the Medium-Term Plans for each year group:

EXPLORING

The children will explore products linked to their project. They will do this by:

• Taking the product apart and looking at the material/s used to make it.

• Looking at the different features of the product.

• Establishing how the product is constructed.

• Questioning how effective it is in its purpose.

• Discussing what could be done to improve this product.

• Producing a list of key vocabulary linked to this product.

RESEARCHING

The children will carry out research regarding the product that they are going to make so that they can use this research to support the design of their product.

TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE / SKILL

The children engage in a practical activity of practising technical knowledge or skill that they will be required to use when making their product. This may be a new skill or a sill previously practised but that required more practise.

DESIGNING

The children will draw/sketch their design and annotate this with information about their design such as, what features they have included in their design.

During this lesson the children will also answer questions such as:

• What materials will I need?

• What tools will I need?

• What technical skills will I need to practise before making the product? (Some of these may  have been previously taught skills which need refreshing or be completely new)

MAKING

The children make their product.

EVALUATING

The children will not only evaluate the effectiveness of their product but also the skills that they applied. This will be  recorded both individually in their DT book and collectively in the Class DT Diary.

 Below is:

A copy of the Long-Term DT Plan:

The units that the children complete in each year group have been carefully selected so that all National Curriculum Expectations are met by the end of KS1 & KS2 in the key areas of: Design, Make, Evaluate & Technical Knowledge and Cooking & Nutrition.

A copy of the progression in process skills from Early Years to Year 6:

A copy of the progression in technical knowledge & skills from Early Years to Year 6:

A copy of the DT National Curriculum:

To ensure that:

• The children remember the long-term content.

• The children understand that they are systematically learning.

• The children can integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.

The school has implemented the following system, which is adhered to each lesson.

At the start of each DT lesson, prior learning from the last lesson is recapped. If, however, this is the first lesson in the unit, time will be spent looking back at the DT units completed overtime. This is so that the children can see if there are any previous skills or learning that could be transferred to this new unit.

The children have individual books to use as a reminder of the work they have completed previously.

Impact:

The intended impact of the DT Curriculum is that the majority of children in each year group are working at or above the expected level for their age.

In addition, it is the intended impact that the children:

• are inspired by the DT Curriculum and want to learn more.

• show the progression in their skills, knowledge and understanding in the work in their books.

• can discuss their learning and remember what they have learnt.

• can identify some key designers and talk about the impact that their work has had on the world.

The above impact will be assessed in a number of different ways throughout each year:

• At the end of each unit, the teacher will carry out assessments linked to the Medium-Term Plan objectives. A best fit level will then be given at the end of the as an overall level of learning. This levelling will be graded as set out in the school’s Assessment Policy – Below (Not Accessing the Curriculum), Working Towards, Expected or Exceeding.

• The pace of learning will be viewed via the DT Books and linked to the Medium-Term Plan objectives.

• Learning Walks will be carried out to assess the quality of teaching and learning being delivered.

• Pupil voice sessions will assess how much knowledge the children are retaining overtime and able to recall when asked. These sessions will focus on asking the children questions about the learning that is documented in their DT Book.

• During Curriculum Governor Days, the children will also be asked about their learning in reference to the work in their DT Books linked to the Medium-Term Plans.

• Photographic evidence highlighting areas covered and shown on Hindsford Blogs.

DT Gallery:

Year 6:

Healthy Bolognese

Year 6 researched existing bolognese recipes, looked at healthier alternatives, practised their chopping and dicing skills and independently cooked their own bolgnese recipe.

The next year the Year 6 children made beef burgers.

Year 5:

Building Bridge Prototypes

Year 5 designed and built a bridge prototype to fit a given design criteria. They had to look at different ways to strengthen their bridge and how to attach the different pieces together to make a strong, sturdy prototype.

Making Pillows

Year 4:

Year 4 have completed a unit of mechanisms and have used different mechanisms to create a moving picture book.

Year 3:

After extensive research into current sandwiches available on the market, Year 3 have used the skills of cutting, grating, peeling and slicing to create a healthy sandwich of their own.

Year 2:

Year 2 used axles and wheels to create their own fire engines. They had to use a saw to cut the axles to the correct size.

Making Puppets

Year 1:

Year 1 have completed a unit on houses. Part of their unit was to research the different types of existing homes and then build their own using paper and cut and fold flaps for the windows and doors.

Moving Pictures

Reception:

Work Gallery:

Response to Covid-19:

During the national lockdown (January 2021 to March 2021), DT lessons were taught remotely. As DT is only taught in the second half term due to Art being taught during the first half term, the children only received 3 lessons remotely before returning to school. These three lessons consisted of the explore, research and planning aspect of DT so that when the children came back to school they were ready to make and evaluate the product.

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