Design Technology
Intent
At Southwark Park Primary School, we intend for our children to be creative, inventive, knowledgeable and skilled at designing, creating and evaluating products. Our Design Technology curriculum builds on the National Curriculum statements to equip children with a broad range of Design and Technology skills that will prepare them for their continuing learning journeys in secondary school. We aim to inspire children to design and create functional, purposeful and appealing products with confidence, and evaluate them regardless of how successful they were. Children will be taught the relevant vocabulary they need to purposefully discuss and evaluate their learning, making it meaningful and relevant links to school and life outside of school.
Implementation
At Southwark Park School we teach project-based Design Technology units in four stages: research, design, make and evaluate. We follow this pattern consistently to ensure our children grow familiar with how the design process works, and are able to suggest improvements to their designs. As they travel up the school they become increasingly familiar with this process, enabling them to apply their previous learning to their new designs.
In line with the national curriculum, children begin the Design Technology sequence by exploring and analysing a range of existing products to inform and inspire their ideas. Following this, they get the opportunity to design, model and discuss ideas for their products, using ICT where appropriate. Initially they are taught specifically how to use a range of tools, equipment, materials, textiles and ingredients to perform practical tasks, including cutting, joining, finishing and strengthening. Later, they are given more freedom to choose the materials and tools that would be best for their design, drawing on their previous learning. Children are given the opportunity to explore these tools and materials, and are encouraged to make any changes to their designs based on this exploration. After they have created their project piece, they assess and make any improvements to their designs, including making parts stiffer, stronger or more stable. They are able to discuss their learning and compare it to previous projects, as well as to existing products with similar design criteria. Teachers assess learning using a skills progression and are able to give informative and useful feedback to support future designs. Children complete 2 to 3 Design Technology units each year, ranging from bridge building to cooking to lever-operated toys.
Impact
Southwark Park Primary School’s Design Technology curriculum is engaging and enjoyable, providing children experience with a useful and varied set of skills. When they complete Year 6, the children will have experienced designing and creating products for many different purposes. They will have tested, analysed and redesigned these products, leaving them fully prepared to tackle the design technology challenges they will face both in secondary school and outside the school environment. Children will understand the purpose of researching and designing a product before creating it, as well as the importance of evaluating a completed product to inform future projects. They will have gained experience using a wide range of tools and begun to develop many skills that will be invaluable to them for future learning about cooking and nutrition, textiles, woodwork, computer aided design and all other areas of the Design Technology curriculum.
