Design & Technology

We want Design and Technology to be an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems, within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values.

The aims of the Moorlands DT curriculum are:

  • To deliver programmes of study for Key Stages 1 and 2 of the National Curriculum in Design and Technology;
  • To develop imaginative thinking in children and to enable them to talk about what they like and dislike when designing and making;
  • To enable children to talk about how things work, and to draw and model their ideas;
  • To encourage children to select appropriate tools and techniques for making a product, whilst following safe procedures;
  • To explore attitudes towards the made world and how we live and work within it;
  • To develop an understanding of technological processes, products, and their manufacture, and their contribution to our society;
  • To foster enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making.

Design and Technology at Moorlands is delivered by class teachers or HLTAs following the ‘Cornerstones’ scheme of work.

The delivery of the Design and Technology curriculum will ensure that pupils consider the following;

  • User – pupils should consider who their products are for
  • Purpose – pupils should decide which tasks their products will perform
  • Functionality – pupils should think about how their products will work
  • Design Decisions – pupils should have opportunities to make informed choices
  • Innovation – pupils should have scope to be original with their thinking
  • Authenticity – pupils should design and make products that are real, believable and can be evaluated through use

The design and technology projects are well sequenced to provide a coherent subject scheme that develops children’s designing, planning, making and evaluating skills. Each project is based around a design and technology subject focus of structures, mechanisms, cooking and nutrition or textiles. The design and technology curriculum’s electronic systems and IT monitoring and control
elements are explicitly taught in our science projects to ensure the links between the subjects are highlighted. Where possible, meaningful links to other areas of the curriculum have been made. For example, the cooking and nutrition project Eat the Seasons is taught alongside the geography project Sow, Grow and Farm. All the projects follow a structure where children are introduced to key concepts and build up knowledge and skills over time, using a more comprehensive range of equipment and building, cutting, joining, finishing and cooking techniques as they progress through school. All projects contain focused, practical tasks in the Develop stage to help children gain the knowledge and skills needed to complete their Innovate tasks independently. Throughout Key Stages 1 and 2, children build up their knowledge and understanding of the iterative design
process. They design, make, test and evaluate their products to match specific design criteria and ensure they fit their purpose. Throughout the projects, children are taught to work hygienically and safely.

The Moorlands’ DT curriculum follows the Cornerstones scheme of work

EYFS

Expressive Art & Design in the EYFS is all about discussion and experimentation.

We believe that helping children to be creative is as much about encouraging attitudes of curiosity and questioning as about skills or techniques. 

Building on children’s interests can lead to them creating amazing inventions or making marks on paper that represent for them an experience or something they have seen. Encouraging children to choose and use materials and resources in an open-ended way helps them to make choices and to have confidence in their own ideas. Supporting them to explain their thought processes helps build their resilience to keep exploring and investigating “what happens if…”.

The curriculum is designed in such a way that children are actively involved in the evaluation, dialogue and decision making about the quality of their outcomes and the improvements they need to make. These discussions help children to talk about their own learning journey and have an understanding of how to improve.

In addition to this in line with the school’s assessment policy observations of pupil progress within each lesson are used to plan subsequent teaching, including targeted support and opportunities for working at greater depth. Knowledge organisers are used in each unit to support assessment.