Design Technology

Our Design Technology Vision @ Crawford

At Crawford Village Primary School, we believe that Design Technology encourages inquisition and imagination, and promotes an engagement of children who may not ordinarily enjoy practical, hands-on activities.

Design Technology teaches children to be aware of the world around them, and to make rational, economic and ecological based decisions, and to understand how their decisions affect people and the environment.

In lessons, pupils explore different questions that life presents them, and develop skills and attitudes to tackle, investigate and find answers to these questions. Pupils will also work as part of a team to solve problems, and take part in class and group discussion, working through different roles, and taking on board constructive criticism. Children look at different situations around the world and consider ways in which design and technology could provide positive contributions and improve the quality of life.

The beginnings of our design technology curriculum can be seen through the continuous provision opportunities provided in the EYFS where children create and construct. Moving into Key Stages 1 and 2, we follow the KaPow Primary scheme of work. We develop pupils knowledge and understanding by ensuring that our DT curriculum provides children with the opportunities to research, design, experiment, make and evaluate. Each year children undertake six design technology projects, one of which is cooking and nutrition. Other projects involve textiles, mechanisms, structures, electrical systems and digital world. Incorporated within some of these projects is the use of electronics and computer coding. Children are given opportunities to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding of a wide range of materials and equipment through practical activities in a safe and controlled environment.

Substantive and Disciplinary Knowledge in DT

Substantive knowledge is the carefully sequenced, factual knowledge that we learn through our curriculum; our life-long learning and other information that we learn alongside this. Substantive knowledge cannot be learnt in isolation, but requires prior knowledge that enables us to make sense of what we have learnt. We learn this through the sequencing of our lessons. Prior knowledge must be revisited and misconceptions actively diagnosed.

Disciplinary knowledge is the way in which we learn. In DT we learn through researching, designing, making and evaluating products.

Progression in DT

Progression is carefully planned into our DT curriculum. We evidence this in a number of ways including the following:

Knowledge and skills overviews (structures, cooking and nutrition, textiles, mechanisms and electrical systems and digital world (KS2 specifically)
Vocabulary progression
Progression of individual units showing how they are sequenced

What our pupils say about Design and Technology at Crawford Village Primary School

"Trying different pastries was so much fun - even though some of them didn't taste nice."

"I made a pasty and it made me really proud."

"We do projects and make things that we've designed which we really enjoy.

"I love D&T!"

As a school we have decided to follow a new and exciting scheme called Kapow. Design Technology consists of six different strands that are taught from EYFS up to Year 6.