Intent

At Eyres Monsell Primary School we want our Design Technology curriculum to be inspiring, rigorous, and practical with real experiences and problem - solving at the heart of the learning. We want our children to use creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, linked across the curriculum and considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. We intend that our children leave us inspired to become the designers, inventors, engineers and chefs of the future.

Implementation

We are dedicated to the teaching and delivery of a high-quality Design and Technology curriculum. In the Early Years, the areas of Physical Development, Expressive Arts and Design and Health and Self Care provision underpin our Design and Technology provision. Our Early Years Practitioners support learning through demonstration, vocabulary rich discussion and enabling play environments.

In Years 1-6, we build on the children’s skills and knowledge from pre-school and reception and carefully sequence our learning in order to activate prior knowledge and to give the opportunity to re-encounter and develop skills and knowledge in different contexts. At Eyres Monsell we have designed our curriculum so that our pupils make progress in design technology by knowing more and remembering more of the component knowledge in each strand, thus expanding their schema. The key technical knowledge for each area of DT has been thoughtfully planned so children are able to make meaningful links and build on existing skills and knowledge

We follow a ‘design it, make it and evaluate it’ approach and have carefully mapped out each stage of this process so children’s knowledge and skills grow as they move both through the year and between year groups. We have well planned and resourced projects providing children with a hands-on and enriching experience. These can be taught weekly or blocked together to allow the time needed for the children to be critical, inventive and reflective on their work. DT is taught during three half terms out of the six, alternating with Art. Our pupils are introduced to specific designers, chefs, nutritionists, etc. helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement and increase the cultural capital from which they can draw in the future.